invasive species

At a lock and dam site in the suburbs of Chicago, there’s a plan to build a set of booby traps to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes. 

It would involve a barrier of bubbles, an electric field, underwater speakers, and a price tag of over $800 million dollars. 

In some inland lakes invasive plants grow so thick, motor boats get stuck and you can’t fish or swim. 

This week on the guide:

Early season trout fly fishing centers around the Hendrickson fly hatch that some call “The Gentlemen’s Hatch.”

Dams hurt native fish by blocking their access to rivers — but removing dams to let the fish through would open the way for invasive species.

A first-of-its-kind barrier designed to deal with this problem by sorting fish will be tested on the Boardman River in downtown Traverse City. If it’s successful, it could be a model for rivers all over the world.

What to do with dams

A decline in lake whitefish is pushing some tribal commercial fishermen out of Lakes Michigan and Huron. They’re spending more time in Lake Superior, the only place they say they can still make a living. This has fishermen and scientists worried about whether whitefish populations there can withstand the extra pressure.

If caretakers of the Great Lakes aren’t careful, thirsty people from all corners of the world could come calling for our abundant supply of fresh, clean water.

So warns Peter Annin’s book “The Great Lakes Water Wars," first published in 2006.

Lake whitefish are the most important commercial fish species in Michigan. But in the last decade, state biologists say fishers are harvesting about a third of what they used to get. 

Berry harvest is underway in northern Michigan, and this season’s crop forecasts are rosy. But getting those crops harvested is requiring heavier use of insecticides because of an invasive pest that’s on the rise. The situation is taking a toll on the region’s farms and orchards.

Invasive species are an expensive problem in the United States – federal agencies spent more than $104 million last year to control them. But a recent study on garlic mustard shows that it might be better to leave some invasive species alone.

The US Department of Agriculture is asking residents along the Great Lakes corridor and beyond to watch out for an invader- the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB).At the North Tonawanda Audubon Nature Preserve, located north of Buffalo, environmental workers and volunteers hung black and white warning signs about the bug.