Shocking Hazard on the Great Lakes

[AuxiliaryComms]

The Army Corps of Engineers have activated an electrified barrier in an attempt to deter invasive species in the Great Lakes area.

Here's the full story http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/443/266589/

[ready123]

The Army Corps of Engineers have activated an electrified barrier in an attempt to deter invasive species in the Great Lakes area.Here's the full story http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/443/266589/

No worry for those of us in the great lakes... it's located on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) at river mile marker 296.5, near Lockport, Ill.

[gjrylands]

This is getting pretty close to home.

The barrier is an attempt to keep the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes. The Asian Carp is a prolific eater and breeder, and if it enters the Great Lakes it will drastically change the food chain. There have been several foreign species introduced into the Great Lakes with major consequences.

Watch this video and you can see why there is such an attempt to keep them out of the Great Lakes.

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChwJiKKBdA&NR=1

[David Kane]

If anyone has read this thread and NOT watched the videos linked, I strongly urge you to do so. Man, I did not realize the problem was so severe and widespread!!!

My betting money says, some how, some way, these carp are going to get into the Great Lakes. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

[gjrylands]

They may be here already. There have been 2 dead Asian Carp found on the other side of the barrier. The river and lock system was engineered many years ago to reverse the flow of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers. The water flows away from the lake. If the fish had been killed in the barrier they should have drifted away from the lake, not towards it, so it is assumed they died after getting through the barrier. It may be that they received a lethal dose of current, got through, and then died, but what if they got through and didn’t die.

I think David may be right when he said, Quote: “My betting money says, some how, some way, these carp are going to get into the Great Lakes. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.”

[gjrylands]

Electric Fence update:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have installed new, more powerful electric fish barrier from mile marker 296.0 to mile marker 296.7 on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, at Romeoville,IL. Prior to 9-11-09 the waterway was closed to all pleasure boats, unless they were toed through the safety zone. Any pleasure boat wishing to travel through the safety zone was required to make an appointment with a pusher tug boat and be toed through the zone. Prior to being toed everyone on the pleasurecraft had to board the toe boat and the batteries of the pleasurecraft disconnected. After traveling through the zone the batteries were reconnected and the boat could travel on. The cost was $600.00.
As of 9-11-09 the Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have eased the restrictions a bit.
Read the new restrictions in the following link: http://www.uscg.fishbarrierinfo.com/go/doc/1295/323102/