Ultimately, what matters about the second fish kill in the Great Asian Carp Quest may have little to do with the bighead and silver carp themselves, and a whole lot more to do with how things are viewed.
What is posted, printed, published and aired may have more impact than the actual fish kill.
A good percentage of the press at the conference along the Little Calumet this morning at Sunset Bay Marina on the Southeast Side of Chicago were from Michigan.
That's the state where both public officials and major media are making asses of themselves calling for the closure of the Chicago locks.
And I do mean asses.
If they were calling as loudly for the closure of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Michigan crowd might have a point. Without that, they sound just like the braying donkeys I sometimes heard growing up.
Shortly, after I snapped the photo above, boats began dumping more than 2,000 gallons of rotenone into a 2 1/2-mile stretch of the Little Calumet.
The first officially-sanctioned fish kill, on the Sanitary and Ship Canal in December, 2009, produced one bighead carp. The expectation is for a relatively low number if any this time.
For the official word from the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, click here.
More to come. Haven't decided what I will do tomorrow.
May make as much sense to sit at home and wait to see if they find any Asian carp at all.
Fish murderers!
People, People,
This is all politics by the Michigan folks.
Mike Cox just trying to stay in the free media with his suits to close the Chicago Locks.
Cox should worry about the jobs lost in Michigan not about a fish that is and has been in Lake Erie for over 10 years.
Mike, why no talk about the Asian Carp in Lake Erie?
Look for your self, this is from the US Dept Of Interior/US Geological Survey.
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/specimenviewer.aspx?SpecimenID=40104
I don't know enough about this carp threat. How has it affected the Erie fish populations? An article on it would be most appreciated.