Carp catastrophists come up empty handed

Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the latest update in a series of studies examining the efficacy of Asian carp control efforts.  That study confirmed what many in the Chicago area and maritime shipping community have known for quite some time – closing the locks does not decrease the risk of Asian carp reaching the Great Lakes.
 
This announcement comes on the heels of a one week closure of a vital Chicago shipping lock by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee to search for evidence of Asian carp upriver of current barriers already in place.  Biologists applied rotenone, a fish poison, to a two mile stretch of the Little Calumet River to kill all fish in the waterway to determine if the invasive species were among the dead.  After the closure and subsequent search, the ARCC came up empty handed – well, almost empty handed.
 
The poisoning killed over 11,000 fish weighing over 100,000 pounds.  Asian carp just did not happen to be among them – not even one.  The fish corpses will be destroyed and sent to a nearby landfill.  This marks the second extensive search resulting in no evidence of Asian carp above the electric barriers and at what cost?
 
This operation cost taxpayers $1.5 million and that’s before taking into consideration indirect costs associated with lost commercial activity.  In an average week this time of year, 140,000 tons of materials are shipped through the O’Brien lock.  That’s the equivalent of nearly 5,000 semi-truck loads of material that must be rerouted, delayed or even unable to be delivered; a convoy that size would stretch from Chicago all the way to Milwaukee.
 
Those horrifying numbers represent just one week of closure at the O’Brien lock.  Imagine if the waterways shut down permanently.  According to the USACE’s own numbers, closure of the locks would cost nearly $150 million annually in added transportation costs and lost benefits to the public alone. The overall economic impacts go far beyond transportation costs alone though.  The Chicago area locks transport $29 billion worth of farm products, building materials, coal and other industrial goods and raw materials – 19 million tons of cargo annually.  One preliminary study has shown the wider economic impacts of closure to the Chicago region alone would total over $4.7 billion over the next 20 years.  And, considering the sheer quantity of freight, the economic impact nationwide would certainly be many times that amount.
 
The proponents of closure are relying on shaky eDNA science to justify these costs.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers itself described eDNA testing as speculative and preliminary evidence only.  Despite this admission, eDNA is the only leg those calling for closure have to stand on and it’s a wobbly leg, at best.
 
And now, even the most adamant supporters of lock closure acknowledge drastic, knee-jerk reactions are uncalled for.  Nick Schroeck, director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit admits, “Perhaps we can concede that asking for an injunction to close the locks was not the right solution.”
 
It’s increasingly clear that other regional stakeholders are not interested in a comprehensive solution to this problem.  The recent letter from five Great Lakes states demanding immediate lock closure, in fact, offered no solution – only baseless demands. Now Congress is weighing in as well, calling for further study of a long term plan to separate the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River; a plan that would reverse nearly 160 years of economic prosperity driven by waterway commerce.
 
Whether closure is temporary and intermittent or long-term and permanent, the continued failure to find a single Asian carp, combined with additional regular monitoring efforts begs the question – when is enough, enough?  The current barriers are working and there are additional safeguards that should be put in place that will hold back the carp without holding back our economy.