On May 5th, the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee released its three-month monitoring and sampling plan to prevent Asian carp from establishing self-sustaining populations in the Great Lakes. The plan involves fishing as well as an additional round of rotenone poisoning.
The Regional Coordinating Committee described the plan in a press release as follows:
“The new sampling and monitoring plan will take those traditional fishing methods to the North Shore Channel where a three day sampling effort using electrofishing gear and commercial fishing nets will be used in an attempt to locate Asian carp. The operation will require the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to close a portion of the North Shore Channel . . . . The area targeted for sampling extends ¼ mile south of Oakton Street- approximately five miles north to the Wilmette Pumping Station. . . .
“The new plan also calls for a rotenone sampling operation upstream of the electric barriers near the O’Brien Lock and Dam to determine whether- and if so, how many- Asian carp might exist in that location where positive eDNA samples have been taken. The planned application and subsequent fish recovery will begin with waterway closure on Thursday, May 20 and last five to six days. The application will take place on the Little Calumet River approximately one mile downstream of T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam, east of the I-94 overpass, and will cover a stretch of two miles downstream of the starting location.”
Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.
