An Asian carp this close to Lake Michigan could be the beginning of the end for the Great Lakes.
It takes an unbelievable amount of time and resources to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Electric barriers have been placed many miles downstream from all waterways that contain these invasive carp to keep their spread isolated before they can enter the lake system. However, until recently, it's been going well. Unfortunately, things just took a turn for the worse.
A confirmed silver carp was captured just nine miles from Lake Michigan, well beyond the barrier designed to stop it.
"Today's news is a wake-up call," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. in an interview. "We need to know how the silver carp came so close to Lake Michigan and whether there are any additional carp in the area."
To makes matter worse, finding a carp past the barriers has been something most have been expecting.
"When you see one, you know it's accompanied by many more you don't see," said Henry Henderson, director of the Midwest Program for the National Resources Defense Council. "We have had 15 years to deal with this slow-motion tragedy."
Where the defense of Lake Michigan goes from here is hard to tell. One thing is for sure, more needs to be done to stop the spread of these terrible fish. Since finding this single fish, two weeks of additional study will be conducted in the area to determine if there are actually more carp or if this was just an isolated incident.
NEXT: WHEN FLY FISHING FOR CARP, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CLOUD TRAIL
