End of an era on the Upper Mississippi,...............

bassman284

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Jun 24, 2006
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While I sympathize, this looks like a classic case of slamming the barn door shut after the horse is gone. If it is indeed possible for the Asian carp to pass through this lock, rest assured, they already have. Pretty much how all invasive species prevention steps have worked. Once the preventative steps have been taken, the invasive species have already invaded.

We've done it here in Iowa just like the border states, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Pull plugs on your bilge and livewell and leave them out while you travel to the next lake. Good plan maybe 20 -25 years ago or more, but at this point every lake I go to already has all the invasive species they are trying to protect against. What I'm saying is, laudable effort but way too late.

Classic example, there was a small lake about 60 miles north of me that was formed by damming a small river in the 1920s. Nice little lake with a sizable community built around it. In the summer of 2010, bout 10 inches of rain fell in about 12 hours upstream and maybe over the lake and the earthen portion of the dam washed out - drained the lake. I was watching a TV news report and the camera zoomed in on a rock in the middle of the former lakebed and I saw that it was covered with zebra mussels. The newsies made no mention of it but I talked to my local DNR guy and he noticed it. The only way for zebras to get in this lake was from boats that also ran in the Mississippi. As the DNR guy said, if they're there, they're probably everywhere.
 

MTboatguy

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Fortunately, Zebra's have not made it to us yet and that is a big YET, they have already stopped and decontaminated 3 boats this summer coming from out of state that did have infestations! We do have weed infestation, but they have kept on top of it, I went out last evening to one of the local lakes and ended up being checked twice at invasive species check points. They are fanatical here on those check points. The species we really have problems with is lake trout followed by Northern Pike!
 

Teamster

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Nov 8, 2010
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It looks like the closing of that lock has less to do with invasive species,...

And more to do with re-habing the waterfront and turning it into rich people condos,....
 

98Shabah

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Mar 11, 2010
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Interesting.. The Illinois is infested with carp already, the Mississippi and Illinois meet in Grafton.. Do carp not swim upstream?
 

jkust

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MN has passed a law that disallows the official use of the term Asian Carp. It can now only be referred to officially as Invasive Carp. It was passed under the current administration but when all houses were controlled by one party during the previous term of the current governor. Someone mentioned Zebras and they get a lot of attention here in MN as well given our lake culture. A lot of resources are dedicated to fighting Milfoil and Zebras at the ramps with paid staffing to inspect and in some cases forced boat decontamination as a preventative on your boat. I think folks would be shocked if they knew how insane MN can be but we are excellent at generally staying under the radar vs Jersey, CA and MA.
 

robert graham

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Wonder what loves to eat these carp?....Gar Fish, Alligators, something out there must love them....maybe they could trawl them like shrimp and make fertilizer or pig food out of the nasty buggers!.....
 

Outsider

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MN has passed a law that disallows the official use of the term Asian Carp.

Yeah, that sounds like MN. Bet they also have 'immigrants who are accused of entering the country illegally', wouldn't want to damage the psyche of an illegal alien ... :eek:
 

aspeck

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As hard as it might be, please keep this from going political. Invasive species and the effects they have on boaters are very legitimate concerns for boaters. However stay as far away from your political soap boxes as possible for the good of the thread. This in an official warning.
 

JASinIL2006

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Feb 10, 2012
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Plenty of invasive carp in the Mississippi, at least in pool 21, 20 and 19. To me, they seem more plentiful in the Illinois, but that's just based on what we've seen when boating there. Sad that the upper river will be closed to river shipping, but if it keeps the invasive carp out, probably not a bad deal. They are unpleasant creatures, from a boating standpoint.

My guess is that they're already up there, or will be soon, despite this move.
 

redneck joe

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Mar 18, 2009
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Wonder what loves to eat these carp?....Gar Fish, Alligators, something out there must love them....maybe they could trawl them like shrimp and make fertilizer or pig food out of the nasty buggers!.....
Andrew Zimmern did a show from st louis i think and supposed to begood to eat. Local guy was trawling for them. In asia they regularly eat them
 

MTboatguy

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I had a lot of stuff to eat while in the Asian area that people here in the US would not find palatable!
 
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