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Invasive Species and the Great Lakes

The Alliance released a groundbreaking report in 2008 urging a breakup of the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins as the only way to permanently stop the devastating Asian carp and other invasives from entering the Great Lakes.

The Alliance report, Preliminary Feasibility of Ecological Separation of the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes, outlines six options for separating the watersheds and ending the transfer of species between them.

The idea of restoring the natural physical barriers that once separated Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River continues to gain momentum.

Why the worry? These fish are beyond bad. Growing to 4 feet, 100 pounds and known to batter boaters when leaping from the water, the silver carp has joined with the bighead carp to become the poster fish for the ecologic and economic harm that comes when invading species travel between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

Once established in the Great Lakes, the voracious filter-feeding, fast-growing carp could quickly dominate them -- gobbling up the same food that sustains native fish populations and potentially devastating the region's $7 billion fishing industry.

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Fact Sheet: "Separating Fact from Fiction"

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