Getting your player ready...
CHICAGO — Connections engineered more than a century ago between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed should be changed to block the advance of invasive species that can cause irreversible damage, an environmental advocacy group says.
Separating the two basins is the only way to stop the transfer of some species, including the voracious Asian carp that is within 50 miles of Lake Michigan, says a feasibility study issued Wednesday by the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
Researchers fear the carp, which can grow up to 100 pounds and more than 4 feet long, could eat all the food that’s available for other species in the Great Lakes ecosystem, possibly leading to the collapse of the lakes’ multibillion-dollar fishing industry.
