U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra speaks about the Asian carp issue facing the Great Lakes.
MUSKEGON — The large turnout at Monday’s Asian Carp update signals the amount of local interest regarding the health of the Great Lakes, in general, and the threat posed to world’s largest fresh water system by the Asian carp.
And details out of Washington D.C. this week indicate the issue has national import as well.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who has previously announced his plans to seek the governor’s post in Michigan this fall, hosted the gathering sponsored by the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce at the Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon.
And Hoekstra’s message was one of less talk, more action: “We can’t spend years talking about it,” he said.
“It is better to be safe than sorry,” said Hoekstra. “Rather than saying, well, the research and technology on this is unproven, and (thus) we’re not going to use it, let’s use it. Let’s believe that it is good, and that it gives us a good insight into exactly what is happening. And if we find out five years from today that it was traditional carp, you can flog us, all right, but the thinking there is ‘better safe than sorry’.”
Hoekstra praised the Obama Administration for announcing a commitment of tens of millions of dollars toward keeping the invasive species out of Michigan, where they would enter from tributaries off the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
Now he’d like to see that money put to good, and quick, use.
“Let’s use every tool that we can, recognizing that we’ll try some things that won’t work,” said Hoekstra. “So somebody will be able to do an exposé’ as to ‘They wasted a million dollars on a project that didn’t work.’ And the answer will be ‘yes.’ But it was worth taking the shot because (the fish) may have been there, and it might have worked, and we’re going to use every tool to stop it.”
Hoekstra maintained that “creating a single point of contact” on the issue is necessary if anything is going to get done. He recently introduced legislation that would give that authority to the Army Corps of Engineers. He also emphasized focusing on long-term solutions, including erecting more barrier systems to keep the fish at bay.
But, getting the courts to force the closure of locks between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes — a suit, brought by fellow Republican gubernatorial hopeful, and current Michigan Attorney General, Mike Cox, was recently struck down in court — isn’t just politically unfeasible, it carries with it dire consequences.
“I think it’s very unlikely you will get a court order to close the locks,” said Hoekstra, explaining that some 10,000 homes lie in the flood plain of the locks. Closing them could potentially flood those homes, he said.
Yet, a scientist at a Congressional hearing Tuesday in Washington D.C. warned of a deluge of invasive species into the Great Lakes if the locks aren’t closed.
Despite the prospect of the locks staying open, Hoekstra pointed to the “yahoo scenario” as perhaps the most likely way Asian carp would make it into the Great Lakes. That is, fishers and others purposely letting the fish go in major Michigan river systems. One fisherman at the meeting said there are rumors someone has let Asian carp go in the upper waters of the Grand River, near Lansing.
Annis Water Resources Institute Director Alan Steinman, who spoke before Hoekstra, gave a brief but thorough background on the issue.
Steinman explained that two of the four species of Asian Carp — the big head and silver — are of greatest concern to the Great Lakes. Three of the four species were introduced to America in the 1970s, escaping from the southern fish farms where they were bred in the early 90s after the Mississippi River flooded. “They’ve been working their way upstream ever since,” said Steinman.
“I by no means want to downplay the threat of the Asian carp to the Great Lakes,” said Steinman, before listing some of the reasons infestation by the fish could be a problem — i.e. the silver carp have nearly doubled in number over the past decade in an 80-mile stretch of the Illinois River, about 130 miles south of Lake Michigan; female silver carp can produce two million to four million eggs each time they spawn. But Steinman went on to say that there are several key factors that may prevent a large-scale infestation of the Great Lakes by Asian carp. For one, the photoplankton level in the Great Lakes isn’t sufficient to support the carp. Whether carp populations can move between riverine systems near the coast — which would have an acceptable amount of photoplankton present to support carp populations — is unknown.
Then there is the matter of water speed and temperature.
“The slower the river moves, the more time the eggs have to mature,” said Steinman. “And the warmer the water, the faster that these eggs will mature as well.” That bodes well for more northern river systems such as the White, Muskegon and Pere Marquette, all of which feature cold, fast running currents. But other area river systems, such as the Grand and the St. Joe, may offer the carp a more hospitable breeding situations.
Asian carp need water temperatures around 64-86 degrees for successful spawning. Steinman said he’s “cautiously optimistic” the Asian carp won’t gain a foothold into the Great Lakes.
Hoekstra said this issue hasn’t divided the big players in government the way other issues have in the past.
“This isn’t a state issue, one state versus another,” Hoekstra opined. “Everybody is pretty much all working together. I think also this is not environmentalist versus developers; I think we’re almost all in agreement that (we’re) in a pretty unique position.”
Hoekstra recommended people in Michigan help out as well, suggesting that if someone sees evidence of a carp infestation, he or she should contact state officials.
“Maybe some kind of public awareness campaign in the state,” he said, “telling people what they ought to be looking for and those kinds of things, is probably a very good idea.”
