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A "gun" that shoots powerful pulses of water
might be used to keep Asian carp from slipping into Lake Michigan
near a Chicago shipping lock if testing this summer determines it
wouldn't damage the structure, an official from the U.S Geological
Survey said Thursday.


      The water cannon, which creates enough energy to deter or kill
fish, could be positioned near the lock, the point where some fear
the invasive carp could get into the lake if the fish somehow got
through electrical barriers already operating in canals farther
inland, said Leon M. Carl, USGS regional executive.


      "My guess is that this would stop them ... and that would be to
me something that we'd really like to have in place," Carl told
The Associated Press after a public hearing, calling the water guns
an "urgent" measure to deter and control the carp.


      Right now, three electrical barriers sending pulses through
shipping canals west of Chicago are the only things stopping the
carp from reaching Lake Michigan, where biologists fear the
voracious fish could disrupt the food web by outcompeting less
aggressive fish for plankton and eventually threaten the Great
Lakes' $7 billion fishing industry. The carp can grow to 4 feet in
length and weigh up to 100 pounds.


      Asian bighead and silver carp were introduced in the South and
have been making their way north for decades. They're now just
miles from Lake Michigan, in a network of manmade canals engineered
over 100 years ago to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and
create a link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River
watersheds.


      The USGS also is researching the use of pheromones that could
attract the carp to one area, continuous sonar to deter them and a
possible chemical control specific to the carp, Carl said.


      But environmental groups say such measures, while they could
help buy some time, are not a permanent solution, and they have
urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to physically sever the
Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage basins, a step also sought by
Michigan and four other Great Lakes states in a pending federal
lawsuit. The Corps has said it will consider that option as it
studies ways to prevent species migration between the two
watersheds - a process it says should be done in 2015.


      "I'm not suggesting that (the USGS) research should not be
happening ... but there are no substitutes for a permanent
solution," said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the
Great Lakes. "Our last defense is really the only defense."


      Carl, from the USGS, said his agency's research likely would
benefit more than just the lakes.


      "A lot of this would be transferrable to other areas and other
species," he said, adding that states, including Minnesota and
Pennsylvania, are interested in water guns as a possible way to
keep the carp from migrating farther up rivers.


      He said it's unclear how many water guns, which cost several
thousand dollars each, would be needed near Chicago.

      "First, we have to make sure it would not bring the canal walls
down, but we really don't think it's going to do that," he said.


      Earlier this month, the U.S. Army Corps turned on a $19 million
electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
slightly upstream from the other two. The underwater electrodes
emit rapid pulses, creating a force field meant to repel fish or
shock those that don't turn back.

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Environmental News

A "gun" that shoots powerful pulses of water
might be used to keep Asian carp from slipping into Lake Michigan
near a Chicago shipping lock if testing this summer determines it
wouldn't damage the structure, an official from the U.S Geological
Survey said Thursday.


Scientists to test water 'gun' in Asian carp fight

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