There was nothing fishy about President Donald Trump unleashing federal money last week to combat the threat of invasive carp entering Lake Michigan.
After fears the administration would withhold the funding to punish Illinois, the president showed his bark is maybe worse than his bite. At least when it comes to this ecosystem issue.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources officials had expected to begin the Brandon Road Interbasin Project on the Des Plaines River in Joliet in Will County back in February. That date was delayed after officials were afraid funding might be postponed since the president and Gov. JB Pritzker have been sniping at each other, according to a News-Sun story earlier this week by Olivia Olander of the Chicago Tribune.
First phase of the work, pegged at about $340 million, is proposed to stop the so-called Asian carp — silver, bighead, grass and black carp — from entering the Big Lake fishery, where they could spread to the other four Great Lakes. Two more phases of the project, in the planning stage for more than five years, including an electric-shock barrier, are proposed in the coming years. The overall pricetag is an estimated $1.2 billion.
That’s a hefty cost, yet at stake is the future of the Great Lakes recreational fishing, boating and tourism industry, estimated at $16 billion, as well as the lakes’ $7 billion commercial fishing industry.
Charter boat captains, from Northpoint Marina in Winthrop Harbor to Waukegan Harbor to Chicago, along with weekend anglers, have already been successfully plying Lake Michigan this spring seeking various trout and salmonoid species with great luck. Reports indicate that there have been many days of limit catches.
The Brandon Road Lock and Dam barrier plans offered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are considered the last stand in stemming the expected push by the invasive species into the Great Lakes, which are the largest freshwater system in the world. Downstream from the lake along the Illinois River, the voracious fish have taken over waterways.
Indeed, one study has determined that up to 50 million pounds of carp a year could be taken in the river, and even more from waterways south to the Gulf Coast. The state has attempted to “rebrand” the fish as the affordable “seafood” they now call copi.
Nobody has swallowed that despite some Chicago chefs crafting dishes using the plentiful copi, a nod to how “copious” the fish are. Apparently, the fish is tasty, but still carp is carp.
Other uses for the fish are exporting them to Asian markets and for fertilizer. Like other invasives, the carp were introduced in the 1960s to help aquaculture in the South, but have since spread to 31 states.
There’s plenty of video on social media showing hundreds of carp jumping into boats on various rivers, including the mighty Mississippi. The devastation the species could cause to the Great Lakes would be an environmental disaster.
There’s no guarantee the barrier plans will keep the carp from lakes, which already have some freshwater common European carp, also an invasive species, swimming free. As in the case of other invasives — lamprey eels, zebra mussels or gobies — they have a way of getting where they want to go.
Perhaps capitalist Trump sees the financial damage the invasives could wreak on Midwestern states, as he’s promised the feds will write a check for their fair share. Or he’s repaying the sportsmen in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin who helped him to victory last fall in battleground states.
Whatever the reason, Illinois officials and others are pleased to see the money forthcoming. Unlike another $2 billion in federal funds for some 70 other projects across the state, destined for Illinois but hanging fire.
Pritzker said Trump “heard our calls about the importance of delivering federal funds,” according to Olander’s story. He added that the administration “decided to finally meet their obligations to the state of Illinois and the Great Lakes region.”
The National Wildlife Federation, too, praised the full-funding measure, calling it “the most effective solution to protect the Great Lakes from invasive carp.”
If the fish make their way to Lake Michigan, from what we’ve seen on the Illinois River, it will be near-impossible to get rid of their presence. The Brandon Road barrier may keep them out of our precious resource.
When that happens, the Trump administration will receive an overdue “thank you” from environmentalists and fishers across the region.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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