Killer carp approach Great Lakes

[SEMIJim]

Attorneys for the defense ... argued that even scientists disagree about the likelihood that Asian carp are capable of sustaining a large and destructive population if allowed to enter the Great Lakes.

So let's let 'em get in and find out? Is that their proposal?

Even if they didn't thrive in the true Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario), there's no question that they'd do well in many of their tributaries. And there's no question they'd just love Lake St. Clair, which has an average depth of about 20' (6m). My Raymarine knotmeter told me the water temperature in that lake was 80F (27C) a week ago.

Jim

[tomandchris]

The bars along the Mississippi and the Illinois have been having contests on catches of these carp for a few years now. Netting them as they jump in front of boats with cow catchers on them for protection.They are not going to be caught on a line with a worm. They need to be netted or caught with a bow and arrow...or dynamite!

Read an interesting article this morning from a Biologist from Ohio State. He has been studying the carp and believes that they definetely will get into the system but he claims that they will not be able to spawn because of lack of flow and cold temperatures. They will still pose a threat, but not in the numbers stated so far.

I would still like to see us keep them out, but politicians and scientists usually don't act too fast. We will study it until we are sure it is a problem.