The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is stepping up surveillance efforts after juvenile silver carp were found on the Illinois River.
According to a release from IDNR, the juvenile invasive carp were found in the Marseilles Pool of the Illinois River, approximately 80 miles downstream from Lake Michigan.
Hundreds of the fish were found during routine monitoring on the upper river on Thursday and Friday, and they mark the first time the carp have been found so close to Lake Michigan, according to a press release.
While the juvenile silver carp were only four-to-six inches long, the species of carp can grow up to three-to-four feet long and can weigh up to 80 pounds when they mature.
Officials say the location where the fish were found could indicate a spawning event occurred further upriver or in one of the tributaries that feeds into the Illinois River, and as a result surveillance monitoring is being stepped up in several key areas as a precaution, including in the Dresden Island Pool, which is located approximately 30 miles closer to Lake Michigan.
So-called “electrofishing” will also be stepped up, and commercial fishing for adult invasive carp will resume in September.
The news comes just weeks after the Army Corps of Engineers issued a stop work order on construction of the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, which are set to produce a series of barriers designed to keep invasive carp out of Lake Michigan.
The Corps said the project was “under administrative review,” and the decision was criticized by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has expressed concern over funding for the project under the administration of President Donald Trump.
“It’s clear the Trump administration is literally attacking fresh water, clean water, drinking water for the Great Lakes,” he said after the project was paused.
The barriers included electric deterrents, a special channel and bubbles to keep the invasive carp from making their way up the Des Plaines River and into Lake Michigan.
The Trump administration had dismissed concerns over the status of the already-allocated funding for the project in a press release earlier this year, approximately two months before the Army Corps of Engineers halted construction.
“These invasive carp are eating machines,” Karen Murchie, director of Fresh Water Research at Shedd Aquarium, said. “Two of the species are plankton eaters, and they will outcompete some of our native fish, (including) our walleye, perch, and lake whitefish.”
The fear has been if the invasive carp are able to get into Lake Michigan that they would cause populations of those fish to dwindle, which could devastate the commercial fishing industry on the Great Lakes. That industry produces billions of dollars of economic impact and employs hundreds of thousands of workers, according to experts.
The carp were originally imported into the United States in the 1970s to help control algae growth in wastewater ponds according to experts, but they escaped captivity during various flooding events along the Mississippi River.
Since then, officials have been working to produce barriers to keep them from making their way up the Illinois River and ultimately into the Great Lakes, with a variety of electronic barriers, bubbles and other measures aimed at keeping them from moving up the river.
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