Carping On

Last night officials began “chemotherapy treatment for the Great Lakes” when it began poisoning sections to do away with the invasive Asian carp. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal will be poisoned to combat in influx of the fish which are normally kept our by an electric barrier but seem to have slipped through. “Water sampling conducted by University of Notre Dame researchers in late September produced DNA evidence that carp may have moved above the barrier to within eight miles of the lake. Should carp reach the lake, scientists fear the voracious fish could wipe out native species by hoarding available food sources. Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will use the toxin rotenone to kill whatever carp may be in a several-mile stretch north from the barrier. Rotenone disrupts the fish’s ability to metabolize oxygen, leading to death.”