Invasive carp are taking over the United States, and they have their sights set on the Great Lakes. Officials are set to spend whatever it takes to stop them. What's happening? Not to be confused with , outcompete fellow fish for resources, growing and reproducing at astonishing rates and lowering water quality.
Since being introduced from Asia in the 1970s to in confined areas, they escaped to the Mississippi River Basin and beyond. Now, the federal government will spend $1 billion to protect the Great Lakes from bighead, silver, and black carp as well as other invasive species, reported. Michigan will pitch in $64 million and Illinois $50 million.
The Army Corps of Engineers will at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Joliet, Illinois, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago, which would keep the creatures from the Des Plaines River while maintaining commercial shipping avenues. "They consume large quantities of phytoplankton, which form the basis of the lakes' ecosystem," Newsweek stated. ".
.. These invasive carp also have no natural predators in the Great Lakes.
" Why is this important? Invasive species cost Americans , and the carp could destroy the Great Lakes. Not only would they wreck the ecosystem, but they would also endanger people; the large fish can leap over 10 feet out of the water, according to a about the . If invasive carp established a breeding population in the Great Lakes, it would cost more than $1 billion and impact tens of thousands of jobs in the $20 billion .