CHICAGO (WBBM/IRN) -- Poison is going to be dumped into a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal tomorrow to try to kill off any Asian carp that swim there.
The dump of the chemical rotenone is supposed to give maintenance crews a chance to turn off and work on an electric fence that’s been trying to keep the Asian carp from advancing any further toward Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes.
It’s thought the plankton-eating fish could devastate sport and commercial fishing in the lakes. Thom Cmar of the Natural Resources Defense Council says the carp must be stopped, But that the electric fence may not be the answer. The Council believes the canal locks “need to be closed” while the problem is studied further.
Cmar says there has been research that suggests at least some Asian carp have already made it past the electric fence.
Once the rotenone is put in the canal tomorrow afternoon, thousands of fish are expected to float to the surface and be hauled away. Experts are hoping most of the dead fish are Asian carp, but collateral damage is expected in the form of other kinds of fish being killed.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2009 by WBBM. The Illinois Radio Network contributed to this report.
12/01/2009 9:04AM
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12/01/2009 12:41PM
not thinking
What was the thought of the officials on the allowable "collateral damage"? What a waste! How about just putting up a 2ND temporaary Electrical Fence...instead of killing the non-carp?
12/01/2009 3:57PM
electrical fences take quite a while to build...
Officials are already working on putting up another electric fence... Unfortunately, they take a while to build. They'd rather not poison fish, but it's either that or the potential to invade the Great Lakes while waiting for them to finish the fence.
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