Chicago kayaking: safe?
Posted under: If you think Kayaking on the Chicago river can be harmless think again. On July 1 60 kayakers were rescued when their kayaks capsized and went adrift.
What the experts are saying
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the trade in wild animals, but it’s also charged with promoting industries like aquaculture that are often responsible for introducing invasives. When three species of Asian carp escaped from catfish farms into the Mississippi River, Illinois petitioned the wildlife service to add Asian carp to the injurious wildlife list; aquaculturists lobbied against the listing. Three years later a decision is still pending.”
-Susan McGrath, “Attack of the Alien Invaders,” National Geographic
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/attack-alien-invaders/
‘The flooding is the biggest issue,’ said [Richard Lanyon, executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago]. ‘The problem is that it is not fully understood if these carp will damage the ecology of the Great Lakes, and I think it’s a big stretch that it will adversely affect the lake.’”
-Leslie Streicher, “Carp threaten Chicago shipping: Illinois politicians unite over lawsuit,” Medill News Service
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=153370
“There’s no question this ugly, stinky fish has an image problem in the United States. But so many varieties of carp, including the feared Asian carp, have been popular in ethnic cuisines for so long that some can’t help but see Illinois’ current crisis as the culinary opportunity of a lifetime.”
-Joel Hood, “Turning Asian carp from a menace into dinner,” Los Angeles Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/16/nation/la-na-asian-carp16-2010jan16
“They are living missiles, and that’s not trivial,” says David Lodge, director of Notre Dame’s Center for Aquatic Conservation.
-Bryan Walsh, “Asian Carp in the Great Lakes? This means war!,” Time
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1962108,00.html#ixzz0kfV9JS1L
“The lakes can’t heal themselves. The native species can’t defend themselves,” committee chair Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said. “It’s us who are the custodians and can take these actions.”
-Joel Hood, “Illinois to step up fight against Asian carp,” Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-0210-asian-carp-hearing-20100209,0,7450351.story
“The debate over how best to stop the carp has intensified along with the invasive fish’s seemingly irresistible progress toward Lake Michigan. Illinois has battled other Great Lakes states in a war of words about the costs and risks associated with Asian carp.”
-David Greising and Daniel Libit, “Carp solution could provide financial benefits,” New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07cncimpact.html
“When a lot of people say, ‘The game is over’ when it comes to Asian carp getting into the Great Lakes, I don’t think so,” said Michael Hoff, an aquatic invasive species expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It’s a different game we play. But it’s not over.”
-Joel Hood, “Scientists trying to fish out Asian carp from Great Lakes,” Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-great-lakes-pest25-2010mar25,0,1352253.story
“It will take decades for any signs of the Asian carp invasion to show,” said Duane Chapman, a research fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Five to 10 years from now we won’t be able to find them in the lakes and we’ll think we overreacted to the threat. Then 20 years after that the shoe will drop.”
-Leslie Streicher, “Illinois officials strategize unified effort to fight lake invasion of carp,” Medill News Service
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=154284
“Like an aquatic pig, it eats by snuffling among the roots of water plants, sending up clouds of river muck that make it difficult for other fish to find food. Biologists call them ecosystem engineers for this tendency to take an underwater garden and leave it a muddy hog wallow. Fishermen attract them the way you might gather your swine, by scattering a handful of canned corn. All this has earned them an unwholesome reputation.”
-Ryan Chew, “Lawyers, carp and money,” Chicago Reader
http://www.chicagoreader.com/gyrobase/asian-carp-great-lakes-lawsuit-supreme-court/Content?oid=1572160&showFullText=true
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