Great Lakes Electric Carp Barrier Short-Circuited by Cost

WASHINGTON, DC, May 28, 2004 (ENS) - The federal government needs $1.8 million more than allocated to build an electrified barrier across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Illinois to stop invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. The shortfall has just been revealed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Great Lakes governors and ministers of Canadian provinces are being urged to share the cost overrun for the electric fish barrier.

The U.S. government has already contributed $5 million toward the project, and the state of Illinois has contributed $1.7 million as the local cost-share partner.

But due to changes to improve the barrier design and unanticipated costs, the Corps finds that an additional $1.8 million is needed to complete construction of the permanent electric barrier by a September 30, 2004 deadline.

In a letter to Ohio Governor Bob Taft, chair of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the International Joint Commission (IJC) urged the governors and ministers of the Great Lakes states and provinces to meet the "urgent U.S. $1.8 million funding shortfall" to complete the construction of a permanent electric barrier in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal.

Invasive Asian carp lined up below the site of the temporary electric barrier. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Sea Grant)

The barrier is needed to prevent the imminent introduction of Asian carp to the Great Lakes and the potential destruction of the estimated $4.5 billion annual sport and commercial fishery.

Asian carp pose a threat to the Great Lakes sport fishing industry and the lakes because they eat up to 40 percent of their body weight daily.

Fisheries officials say the electrodes in the first barrier will wear out in about 12 months, and the barrier must be shut down for maintenance. They warn that Asian carp have been found only 22 miles from the barrier site.

Temporary electrified barrier across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Illinois (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Sea Grant)

A temporary, experimental electric barrier built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has served as the last line of defense in preventing the movement of Asian carp into the Great Lakes, but the temporary barrier is near the end of its expected lifespan and some of its components are failing.

In March the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers affirmed its intent to complete a second, more permanent dispersal barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal this year to prevent the invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

The Corps of Engineers built a dispersal barrier in 2002 as a demonstration project to test the effectiveness of electrical fields in deterring fish from passing between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

The demonstration project has proven successful, and the Corps expects to start construction of the second barrier this June with completion slated for the fall. The project is expected to halt the migration of the Asian carp toward the Great Lakes.

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is the only aquatic link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainage basins. The canal, which is not a natural waterway, conveys water away from Lake Michigan to the DesPlaines River, the Illinois Waterway and the Mississippi River.

USGS scientist Lynn Bartsch holds two Asian carp. (Photo courtesy USGS)

Common and grass carps destroy habitat and reduce water quality for native fishes by uprooting or consuming aquatic vegetation.

Bighead and silver carps are large filter-feeders that compete with larval fishes, paddlefish, bigmouth buffalo, and freshwater clams.

Boaters have been injured by silver carp because they jump out of the water and into or over boats in response to outboard motors. The USGS scientists warn that black carp, which consume almost exclusively mussels and snails, may further threaten already imperiled native freshwater mussels should they become established.