It is startling to watch silvery fish become twirling, airborne assault weapons all around you as you motor up the Illinois River between the Illinois towns of Chillicothe and Lacon. They're seemingly everywhere, from flashy youngsters to behemoths that can weigh 30 pounds and much more. It is impossible to not imagine what would happen should these fish arrive in Lake Erie.
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CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — There have been experts who say the Asian carp won't survive in the Great Lakes. The water is too deep and too cold with a lack of nutrients, they suggest, and that the carp need river currents to reproduce.
But nobody needs to tell people who live along the Illinois River how amazingly adaptable and resilient Asian carp are, and how they can easily overwhelm an ecosystem and change a way of life. The fish are thriving here, and fisheries experts firmly believe they would flourish in nutrient-rich Lake Erie, where there is plenty for them to eat and a wealth of lake and river currents to encourage them to spawn.
It is startling to watch silvery fish become twirling, airborne assault weapons all around as you motor up the river between the Illinois towns of Chillicothe and Lacon. The fish are seemingly everywhere, from flashy youngsters to behemoths that can weigh 30 pounds and much more.
The Battle Against Asian Carp: At a Crossroads
First of two parts
Today: On the Illinois River, Asian carp are airborne hazards for anyone boating the river. It's not hard to imagine what would happen should the fish invade Lake Erie.
Part Two: D'Arcy Egan presents a three-point plan for keeping the carp out of the Great Lakes.
It is impossible not to imagine what would happen should these fish come to Lake Erie.
Asian carp have proven they can dominate an ecosystem, displacing native fish. In some sections of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, carp make up 90 percent of the fish. Day by day, the carp are expanding their range, with new populations most recently found in North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.
If they make it to the Great Lakes, experts say the carp could overwhelm the tributaries of the lakes, the rivers and streams where favorite game fish -- walleye, salmon and trout -- now spawn.
In the worst case, boaters could face the danger of flying silver carp, sport anglers could see catches disappear and commercial fishermen may struggle to supply markets and restaurants with yellow perch and walleye.
A 15-mile tour of the Illinois River, past the Babb and Sawyer sloughs, provided a clear picture. Silver carp were everywhere, ready to jump at the buzzing vibration of an outboard motor.
Carp were soaring all around Jon Sarver's pontoon boat as we headed up the river. Carp bounced off the net-covered metal framework Sarver had constructed on the boat to protect passengers. The erratic "thumps" on the boat hull below our feet were caused by silver carp slamming into the boat as they tried to jump.
When Asian carp numbers increased on the Illinois River a few years ago, people boating and fishing those waterways were amazed. They couldn't believe fish of that size were jumping like hooked tarpon in the Florida Keys. Dangerously heavy fish in the 40- to 50-pound range that vaulted into the air could stun a fisherman speeding down the river or a jet skier on a zigzag course along the riverbank.
"Of course they're dangerous," said Sarver, of Chillicothe, Ill. "A jet skier was recently hit by a flying carp. The sharp spines of the carp's dorsal fin punctured his chest, and broke off. He needed to have them surgically removed."
New way of life on the Illinois River
It's a badge of bravery for some to water ski here or zip over the waters in a jet ski or shallow-draft bass boat. It's the stuff of popular YouTube videos, an invitation to display bravado and risk being seriously injured or, at the very least, slimed after being struck by a flying fish.
Sarver, a nursing student and avid bowhunter and bowfishing guide, operates Elite Aerial Carp Outfitting. Archers from all over the region have booked trips with Sarver for a firsthand look at the flying carp circus, and to test their bowfishing skills.
Sarver's T-shirt has the name of his guide service and the legend: Saving the River One Arrow At A Time.
On a very good day, a bowfishermen can put tethered arrows into 50 silver carp. To be good sports, the archers only shoot carp when airborne, a target easy to find any day of the week on the Illinois River.
The odd thing, says Rob Hilsabeck, a fisheries biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, is silver carp swimming in their native China don't jump.
"We had a group of Chinese fisheries biologists here a while back to see these fish," said Hilsabeck. "They were surprised our silver carp were jumping like they do."
Silver carp, however, are the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Lurking below the surface of the muddy Illinois River are bighead, grass and black carp, fish that can grow to 100 pounds.
Sarver had two young bowfishermen aboard on a muggy July morning. Addison Demanes and Kyle Ihnken of Peoria, Ill., were invited to try their hand at shooting airborne carp. It isn't easy to hit a moving target.
"In the beginning, we were seeing a lot of really big carp," said Sarver. "Nowadays, we see many more of them, but the majority are younger and smaller."
Instead of silver carp that are 20, 30 or 40 pounds, these fish were only about 18 inches long and 2 to 3 pounds.
That's very disconcerting. The smaller silver carp are less than 2 years old, evidence of how quickly they grow. And they're plentiful -- proof adult silver carp have been very successful at multiplying. All it takes is a period of high water to encourage them to spawn.
Carp debate rages on
The carp are relentless in trying to invade new waters, a reason so many fisheries experts expect to see Asian carp in the Great Lakes.
Asian carp have been steadily heading northward into Minnesota. Officials fear they may have made it into the St. Croix River, east of the Twin Cities, where positive DNA samples were reported in August.
David Hartwell, chairman of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that closing Mississippi River locks downstream would have been the smart thing to do.
Now it's too late. The carp are poised to threaten Minnesota's $2.7 billion sport and commercial fishing industry.
There will be no doubt if silver carp -- the in-your-face bad actors -- make it to Lake Erie.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is at the forefront of keeping them out. The corps is working on a study on whether to close the Chicago gateway and says it should be finished in 2015. Until then, the corps says the carp are being controlled.
The fisheries biologists who study Asian carp on the Illinois River have a wealth of information about the invaders. Whether the carp will continue their march up the Illinois River and make it to Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes is not a topic the biologists are allowed to discuss. The official stance of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and all the federal agencies that make up the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee is the carp are being monitored, studied and controlled.
Electric barriers constructed in the Chicago River by the Corps of Engineers are doing their job, said officials.
Large amounts of rotenone, a chemical that can kill all fish in a specific area, have been stockpiled. Commercial fishermen are netting thousands of pounds of carp every day.
An alert in early August that DNA evidence of Asian carp was detected in Lake Calumet, just on the other side of the Chicago locks, brought an intensive monitoring effort, including commercial fishing nets, electrofishing boats and other high-tech sampling gear. No carp were found, and U.S. carp czar John Goss said it was an example of the readiness of the Asian Carp Coordinating Committee to deal with any situation.
In Port Clinton a few months ago, Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody, commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division for the Corps of Engineers, insisted that permanently closing the Chicago locks was a waste of tax money. He claims the current strategy will keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
There are those who insist not enough is being done.
In a paper this summer in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, four researchers wrote that it's time to separate the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal -- the main gateway from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes -- because the risk of carp entering is too great.
Calling for separation were William Taylor of Michigan State University; Henry Regier of the University of Toronto; Richard Sparks of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Godfrey, Ill.; and Jerry Rasmussen, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who first warned of the looming Asian carp danger more than a decade ago.
Taylor said Asian carp will change the food web and dominate the streams and near-shore regions in the Great Lakes Basin. All agreed time can't be wasted with studies and that immediate action is needed.
Ohio's top fisheries manager, Ray Petering of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, thinks the carp can make it to Lake Erie. Fifteen years ago, Petering said the first line of defense has to be a separation of the Great Lakes from the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He is even more adamant today, despite federal courts ruling against separation. Petering calls for shutting off the locks in Chicago that lead to Lake Michigan.
"We need 100 yards of concrete in just the right spot, and we need it now," said Petering. "We're not positive the electric barriers work on small Asian carp."
The Chicago locks are the most likely way Asian carp will make it to the Great Lakes, says Petering. Shut them down, and then attack the other possible gateways.
One of those gateways is Eagle Marsh, where the Wabash River flows near the Maumee River in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area. In flood conditions, it is conceivable carp from the Wabash River could swim through Eagle Marsh and into the Maumee River. Indiana officials have constructed a 1,200-foot chain-link fence in Eagle Marsh to keep Asian carp out of the Maumee River, a major Lake Erie tributary.
That fence, says Petering, is far too risky. It should be replaced with an earthen and concrete barrier.
While Illinois officials fight to keep the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal open, Asian carp continue to travel. They will continue their relentless march to new and different waters, as well as to keep knocking on the door of the Great Lakes.
Some of the Great Lakes may be a little too deep and a bit unfriendly for Asian carp. But like Goldilocks' favorite bowl of porridge, Lake Erie -- with its shallow western basin and warmer water -- could be just right.
If it is, carp could someday be jumping in a Great Lake near you.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: degan@plaind.com, 216-999-5158
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