Asian Carp were introduced in North America in the 60’s. They were brought from Asia to help clean fish farms. One unfortunate night, a flood happened by the Mississippi River, causing the fish to be dumped in the river. That’s the most basic explanation on how the fish came to be in our waters. Theres also stories of fishermen bringing the fish into the waters by accident and deliberately.
The Chicago Canal has made ‘electric dispersal barriers’ to help keep the invasive fish out of the Great Lakes. When a fish swims over one, it lets off a small electric shock go off; it’s not strong enough to hurt the fish, just to annoy it. Once the shock goes off, the fish swim back where they came from.
Carp are one of many species posing a threat to our lakes. They are competitive when it comes to living space and food. Brandon Williamson, the Land management technician with the upper Thames conversation Authority had this to say about carp ,”It basically eats most of the food of our native fish, as well as the young fish. So basically, the populations of our native fish will be greatly reduced. And then once they start eating the young, they will also go after the adult fish as well.”
Our Great Lakes have been fortunate. We have carp in our lakes, enough to pose a small threat. Only one carp has been caught in the Chicago Canal.
Not only do carp threaten us, but also plants. Williamson has warned people about buying non-native plants for their gardens “other issue is the smaller, and even the medium sized garden centers and aquatic plant centers and pet stores and things like that. They keep selling invasive species, to the private homeowner, for many different reasons; to put plants in your gardens, or to put in the pond out back to the house.”
The best piece of advice is to research what plants you are planting. If you do have tropical plants, like a peace lily, try to keep it in a container away from open areas
