CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois environmental officials will use a toxic chemical to keep the voracious Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
A fish toxin will be dumped into a nearly 6-mile stretch of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal today to stop any carp from going into Lake Michigan while an electrical barrier is turned off for maintenance.
The fish consume up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, and environmentalists fear they would starve out smaller and less aggressive competitors and possibly lead to the collapse of the Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing industry.
Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms into the Mississippi River during 1990s flooding and have been migrating northward ever since.
