Canada
Great Lakes Spawned Grass Carp Causing Further Devastation
ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES
A truckload of grass carp. Scientists say the species, which originated in Asia but has spread through U.S. waterways, has spawned in the Great Lakes and could establish itself there.
Grass carp, a species of plant-eating fish from Asia, have already been found to have spawned in the Great Lakes after invading the Mississippi River basin, which is devastating news for other sea life in those waters.
A new report from scientists has revealed that more than 40 grass carp have been found to exist in the Great Lakes basin over a five-year period ranging from 2007 to 2012. Considered an invasive and unwelcome fish species in American waters, the grass carp, scientists report, have already been thriving in Lake Erie as well as spawning in several tributaries of the Lake.
The carp, which consume massive amounts of plants on a daily basis and destroy the natural environment in the process, have already been targeted for removal by the U.S. Federal Government, which has spent in excess of $200 million in recent years in an attempt to eradicate the unwanted fish. Other carp varieties, including the silver carp and bighead carp, also cause freshwater environmental destruction by consuming large amounts of plankton in order to survive.
One of the scientific researchers reporting on their unwanted spread into Great Lake waters, compared this species of fish to underwater goats or sheep which will eat almost anything it finds in its path, despite the devastation it causes to other marine life and the overall environment.
“They’ll eat pretty much anything,” said researcher Marion Wittmann. “I think of them as like sheep or goats. They’ll come in and munch what’s in front of them.”
On The Web:
Grass carp spawned in Great Lakes and could spread, study warns
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/03/10/grass_carp_spawned_in_great_lakes_and_could_spread_study_warns.html