HOLY CARP, THEY ARE HERE

Today's Waterloo Region Record tells us the inevitable bad news. Asian carp have suceeded in moving from the Mississippi River into the Great lakes and are now moving into the Grand River. The story on today's front page is titled "Alarm raised after Asian grass carp caught in Grand". The fish caught near Dunnville in the Grand River last week was an eighteen kilogram Asian grass carp. This variety apparently doesn't jump out of the water as it's cousins do. There are videos on line showing Asian carp in the U.S. jumping out of the water in droves and landing in boats and on docks etc..

One of the problems with this invasive species is that they reproduce quickly and are able to rapidly squeeze out other species by monopolizing food sources. They have no natural predators due to their large size. The irony is that they were intentionally introduced "...to North America in the 1970's to control algae in Arkansas aquaculture ponds...". From there due to flooding they spread into the Mississippi River system. For a number of years plans have been debated to halt their northern progress in the Chicago area with gates and electric fences. It certainly seems as if the gate has been closed after the horse has bolted.