From the New York Times:

Michigan asked the United States Supreme Court on Monday to sever a century-old connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system to prevent Asian carp from invading the lakes and endangering their $7 billion fishery.

The Michigan attorney general, Mike Cox, filed the lawsuit against Illinois, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. They operate the canals and other waterways that link Lake Michigan and the Mississippi system. Read more.

IISG’s Pat Charlebois and John Epifanio discussed Asian carp and the Great Lakes on Champaign-Urbana’s NPR station, WILL-AM, this morning on the Focus 580 program. You can listen or download it here.

Now that Asian carp DNA has been detected beyond the electric barrier—a mere seven miles from Lake Michigan—it’s even more important for anglers and boaters to watch out for these species and help reduce their numbers.

These fish pose a considerable risk for the health of Lake Michigan and all the Great Lakes. Both bighead and silver carp, known as Asian carp, feed on plankton which is the base of the aquatic food chain. “They can compete directly with native organisms including mussels, all young fishes and some adult fish,” said Pat Charlebois, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant aquatic invasives specialist.

So far, the fish haven’t actually been seen beyond the barrier–only water samples taken from various sites in the Chicago waterways have tested positive for their DNA. And, during the recent deliberate fish kill in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, one Asian carp was found downstream of the barrier site.

“People who spend time out on lakes and rivers are usually the first to spot new species,” said Charlebois. “To know with certainty whether the carp are beyond the barrier, we are really counting on their help in reporting any sightings.”

Asian carp have noteworthy differences from other carp species in terms of appearance. The key to recognizing them is their extremely low set eyes and their scales, which are much smaller than other carp. And while it has been reported that the Asian carp can grow to as much as 60 pounds in Midwest waters, most of these fish are likely to be much smaller than that.

If you think you’ve caught an Asian carp in Chicago area waters, it’s important to report this to Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (847-242-6440), the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (309-968-7531) or the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (317-234-3883). Note the exact location and if possible, freeze the specimen in a sealed plastic bag.

If you are fishing downstream of the barrier where Asian carp are plentiful, you can do your part to reduce their numbers by catching and cooking them. “At this point, we don’t know how the carp got to where they are in the Chicago waterways,” said Charlebois. “There are a number of possibilities. However, we can lessen their desire to move to less crowded areas such as Lake Michigan, by reducing their downstream numbers.”

Because Asian carp are filter feeders, traditional fishing methods don’t work. “In our research we found that the most successful ways to catch Asian carp are by bowfishing, using landing nets to catch jumping carp, which I’m not recommending because of safety concerns, and by snagging using trotlines, jigs or dough balls,” explained Charlebois.

On the plus side, Asian carp meat is tasty, surprisingly, so keep your catch. “They taste like cod,” said Charlebois. “You can cook them a number of different ways and use some great recipes.”

At the 2009 Governor’s Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System in October, several IISG specialists presented a talk titled Strategies for Sustainable Unwanted Medicine Collection Programs: in Communities, in the Classroom and Beyond as part of a session about community action success stories. The article from the conference proceedings is now available.

In their session, Beth Hinchey Malloy, Great Lakes ecosystem health specialist, and Robin Goettel, associate director for education, discussed the work that has been done related to unwanted medicine collection programs. They highlighted the Sea Grant tool kit—Disposal of Unwanted Medicines: A Resource for Action in Your Community and IISG’s partnership with the Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Program (P2D2), which is a component of the program’s new education initiative. Coming soon for high school teachers and other educators is The Medicine Chest: A Collection of Safe Disposal Curriculum Activities and Education Resources.

From a Pentagraph editorial:

Like a pebble dropped in a lake, sending ripples far beyond the starting point, the Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal program started by teachers and students at Pontiac Township High School, continues to spread its impact across the country.

It’s a fitting metaphor for a program designed to protect the safety and quality of our drinking water.

The key message behind the program is that improper disposal of old drugs — flushing them down the toilet or down a drain — can lead to contamination of water supplies. Throwing them in the trash could lead to them falling in the wrong hands.

But, without an active Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal program — the P2D2 program — consumers have few options. Read more.

From the Army Corp of Engineers:

On November 17, the University of Notre Dame notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that some water samples, taken from the area between the electric barriers and Lake Michigan on September 23 and October 1, tested positive for the presence of Asian carp. The positive samples were from an area about one mile south of the O’Brien Lock, approximately 8 miles from Lake Michigan.

As part of its ongoing Asian carp monitoring program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to work with the university to use eDNA genetic testing of water samples to monitor the presence of bighead and silver carp in Chicago area waterways.

“Keeping Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan remains the focus and goal of the IDNR and the Rapid Response Work Group. We will continue to work with the group and our partners on how best to address this new issue and move forward with achieving our overall goal,” said IDNR Assistant Director John Rogner.

The multi-agency rapid response team is working to develop appropriate courses of action based on this new information. Initial response actions will include focusing Asian carp eDNA sampling and other monitoring efforts on areas upstream of the barrier to gather near real-time data on the current location of Asian carp to aid the Rapid Response team in their planning efforts.

The Rapid Response Work Group is finalizing plans to apply rotenone to a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in early December as part of a scheduled fish barrier maintenance shut down.

“Scheduled barrier maintenance will proceed as planned,” said Major General John W. Peabody, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division. “This new information reinforces the importance of preventing any further intrusion of the Asian carp via the largest pathway, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.”

 

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The decade-old battle to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes might be over.

New research shows the fish likely have made it past the $9 million electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a source familiar with the situation told the Journal Sentinel late Thursday.

The barrier is considered the last chance to stop the super-sized fish that can upend entire ecosystems, and recent environmental DNA tests showed that the carp had advanced to within a mile of the barrier. Read more.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A practical battalion of state and federal fishery workers will soon be dispatched to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in a drastic attempt to keep Asian carp from invading Lake Michigan.

Early next month, more than 200 people are expected to participate in a two-day, $1.5 million project to poison nearly 6 miles of canal just southwest of Chicago. The idea is for biologists to temporarily kill the river so a new electric fish barrier can be briefly shut down for maintenance. Read more.

When people’s prescriptions change, their drugs expire or are no longer needed, these medicines are typically flushed or thrown away. A 2008 Associated Press investigation found pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas.

Illinois-Indian Sea Grant has developed a series of toolkits and initiatives to help communities, schools and individuals develop and promote programs for safe disposal of unwanted medicine.

This Thursday, November 19, over 110 local waste managers and others are registered to take part in a one-day workshop on developing collection programs for unwanted medicines in Indianapolis. This workshop will provide information and tools for community unwanted medicine collection programs, as well as for pharmacies and medical facilities to safely manage unwanted medicines. Presenters will focus on alternatives to flushing, including best practices from solid waste facilities in Indiana and surrounding states.

Topics to be discussed include: why unwanted medicine disposal is a problem, wastewater treatment issues, unwanted medication handling and disposal, and an update on legislation regarding unwanted medicine collection and disposal.

This is the third workshop on this topic that IISG has sponsored in Indianapolis in the past several years. This workshop is also sponsored by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, the Indiana Pharmacists Alliance, the Indiana Household Hazardous Waste Task Force, and Eli Lilly.