Asian Carp, Eh? Canada to Fight Back Against Invasive Fish

(Oct. 6) -- Hockey prowess, health care norms and the correct way to pronounce the letter "O."

On these fundamental disagreements, Canadians and Americans might never see eye-to-eye. But where invasive species of fish are concerned, researchers in the two countries are ready to team up and fight back.

Asian carp, the much-maligned fish that's already wreaking havoc in Mississippi and Illinois, threatens to enter the Great Lakes, where it would likely destroy indigenous populations and permanently throw off the region's delicate ecosystem.

An Asian Bighead Carp swims in a tank at Shedd Aquarium.

Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune / MCT

An Asian bighead carp swims in the Great Lakes Invasive Species tank at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. They reportedly can grow up to 100 pounds.

Now a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists will join forces for an 18-month study on the likelihood that the fish will garner a foothold in the lakes -- and the damage they'd cause if they did.

"We are not taking the threat to the Great Lakes lightly," Becky Cudmore, senior research scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, told reporters.

The carp have been making their way north since the 1970s and are now within 25 miles of Lake Michigan. Two electrical force fields are in place to stave them off, but scientists fear that once a few carp breach the blocks, the population will rapidly multiply.

By winning out against other species for plankton, the carp could also eat into the lucrative fishing industries of both countries.

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The Mississippi delta offers a cautionary tale for the Great Lakes. There, the carp have reduced the native fish populations by 90 percent, according to the Toronto Sun.

Not to mention that the carp, which can weigh up to 100 pounds each, can do some serious damage to those of us just trying to enjoy a day on the water.

"I have been hit by Asian carp flying into a boat," Nick Madrak, a Vermont-based Fisheries and Oceans scientist, told the Sun. "I got hit in the kidneys and it hurt."

Read more at The Toronto Sun.

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