WIKIMEDIA, US FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICEAn updated Monitoring and Response Plan (MRP) to protect the Great Lakes from invasive Asian carp, announced yesterday (June 4) by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC), will focus on monitoring and removing the fish that end up downstream of the Electric Barrier System in the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) and in the upper Illinois Waterway—and continued evaluation of the effectiveness of the barriers themselves—with the goal of preventing the formation of self-sustaining populations in the CAWS and Lake Michigan.
“The 2014 Monitoring and Response Plan continues to build off past efforts to protect the Great Lakes by using past data and results to focus attention on actions that achieve the greatest results,” Kevin Irons, co-chair of the ACRCC Monitoring Workgroup, said in a press release.
At the same time, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a summary of its Great Lakes eDNA Monitoring Program, which examines CAWS waters and the Great Lakes basin for signs of Asian carp spread. Together, these efforts aim to stem the spread of the invasive animals, which could wipe out the native and commercially relevant fish populations of the Great Lakes.
“We’re excited to share with the public how we are working side-by-side with our state counterparts ...
