Multiple stakeholders are applying efforts to keep Asian Carp from affecting the Great Lakes estimated 7 billion dollar fishery industry.
The recommended plan involves a layered system of structural and non-structural control measures. Structural measures include technologies such as a flushing lock, an engineered channel with electric barrier, underwater acoustic deterrent, air bubble curtain and an automated barge clearing deterrent. Non-structural measures, implemented in conjunction with other federal agencies, could include public education and outreach, monitoring, integrated pest management, pesticides, manual or mechanical removal, and research and development.
US Army Corps of Engineers | Brandon Road Interbasin Project
Some feel that it's time to re-reverse the flow of the Chicago River and shut the lock's down for good:
The advance of the invasive Asian carp up the Illinois River and into a canal leading toward Lake Michigan is leading many in the Great Lakes region to consider whether the man-made waterways connecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds should be cut off.
Public officials in the Great Lakes states, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, say the time has come to consider re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River and closing off the canals linking it to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
Legislation proposed by members of Congress from Great Lakes states calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite a study into hydrological separation of the two important basins. Plans would likely include re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River back into Lake Michigan, after the river was reversed more than a century ago in an engineering feat many say was remarkable at the time.
NPR "All Things Considered" | David Schaper – Change To River's Flow Considered To Stop Carp
