No fisherman ever wants to see thousands of fish suddenly doing the backstroke … unless they happen to be Asian carp. It seems floating down Kentucky’s Cumberland River below the Lake Barkley dam were an estimated 500,000 belly-up silver carp, one of four members of the voracious feeding Asian carp family. They star in YouTube videos for leaping into moving boats, knocking people out and providing humorous sport for boaters armed with nets and baseball bats for a whack at a fish flying at them.
But the truth is it’s nothing to laugh at. It’s extremely worrisome for biologists. The Asian carp pose a huge threat to the Great Lakes’ native fish populations should they ever find a way into these lakes. There are actually four species of these carp that escaped from southern farm ponds during floods. They have gradually moved up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
To date, the focus has been on preventing them from reaching Lake Michigan via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Concern is such that even lawsuits were filed (and failed) against Illinois by surrounding states demanding the canal be permanently closed.
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