Group presses for urgent action on Asian carp

With the invasive Asian carp sitting a short distance from entering the Great Lakes, where it would do enormous damage, a coalition of Great Lakes advocacy groups is calling for urgent action to prevent flooding at the Des Plaines River, which sits only 100 feet from an electronic barrier intended to keep the carp from migrating to the Great Lakes. The Detroit Free Press reports:

Sandbags or concrete barriers need to be put up along the river to prevent the carp from escaping from the river into the canal above the barrier, the groups said.

“This is a natural disaster waiting to happen,” said Jennifer Nalbone of Great Lakes United. “We need to respond to it like we would respond to a hurricane.”

The urgent threat is that heavy rains, such as those the region experienced in September 2008, could flood the river enough that the carp could jump into the canal above an electric barrier, giving them free access to the Great Lakes. The ferocious silver carp grow to 100 pounds, threaten boaters and jet-skiers by leaping out of the water and injuring them, and could destroying the food web in the Great Lakes because they’re voracious eaters. They escaped from southern fish farms decades ago and have made their way to the edge of the Great Lakes.

There’s a bill passed by the U.S. House and pending in the Senate that gives the Army Corps of Engineers authority to do whatever is necessary to prevent the flooding, but Congress is preoccupied with the health care reform bill at this point.