Bighead
Carp Added to Federal List of Injurious Wildlife (Mar
21, 2011)
DOI.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published
a final rule in the Mar 22 Federal
Register officially adding the bighead
carp to the federal injurious wildlife list. The final rule codifies the Asian
Carp Prevention and Control Act (S. 1421), signed into law by President Obama
on Dec 14, 2010. The injurious wildlife listing means that under the Lacey
Act it is illegal to import or to transport live bighead carp, including
viable eggs or hybrids of the species, across state lines, except by permit for
zoological, education, medical, or scientific purposes.
Obama Administration Releases 2011 Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework (PDF | 341 KB) (Dec 16, 2010)
Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.
The Obama Administration announced a series of new measures to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp, building on the unprecedented proactive plan to prevent this invasive species from developing self-sustaining populations in the Great Lakes that the Administration established in Feb 2010. The 2011 Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework (Dec 2010; PDF | 5.7 MB) adds 13 new initiatives to the comprehensive effort to combat Asian carp, including expanding eDNA testing capacity and developing cutting-edge biological controls and monitoring technology, among other measures.
President
Signs Levin's Asian Carp Prevention and Control
Act into Law (Dec 14, 2010)
Senator Carl Levin.
President Obama signed into law that will aid in the fight against the further
spread of Asian carp in the United
States. The Asian
Carp Prevention and Control Act, S.1421, will add the bighead carp species
of Asian carp to a list of injurious species that are prohibited from being imported
or shipped in the United States under the Lacey
Act.
Army
Corps of Engineers Completes Asian Carp Barricades
along the Des Plaines River and I&M Canal
(PDF | 65 KB) (Oct 29, 2010)
U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
Federal, state and local officials
and agencies joined the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers in a ribbon cutting to mark
the completion of barricades along the Des Plaines
River and Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal.
The project was designed and constructed by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and funded through
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part
of the Great
Lakes Restoration Initiative. These measures
are intended to reduce the risk of Asian carp being
swept from the Des Plaines River and I&M Canal
into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC)
during heavy rains and flooding.
Recipes
for Invasive Species: Asian Carp (Sep 22,
2010)
Audubon Magazine Blog.
Silver and bighead Asian carp
threaten to destroy the annual $7 billion fishing
industry in the freshwater ecosystem, and officials
are quickly employing efforts to stymie the assault.
One method that could prove effective is marketing
the invasive species and showing that it can,
in fact, be a tasty dish.
Council
on Environmental Quality Appoints John Goss
as Asian Carp Director (PDF | 160 KB) (Sep
8, 2010) / Bighead
Asian Carp Found in Chicago Area Waterway System
(PDF | 107 KB) (Jun
23, 2010)
Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.
One Bighead Asian carp has been found in Lake
Calumet along the Chicago Area Waterway System
(CAWS) which is about six miles downstream from
Lake Michigan. This is the first physical specimen
that has been found in the CAWS above the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineer's Electric Barrier System. The
Great Lakes commercial and sport fishing industries
are valued at over $7 billion annually, and Asian
carp pose a threat to those businesses because
they can grow bigger than 50 pounds, sometimes
much bigger, and they can consume 20% of their
weight in plankton per day. See also - the Asian
Carp Control Strategy Framework (May 2010; PDF
| 3.9 MB) and a
blog pertaining to the Asian
Carp and Chicago Canal Litigation. |
