Budget threatens work to keep out invasive fish
If the Trump administration’s $4.8 trillion budget proposal is adopted, a major project to keep Asian carp and other invasive aquatic species from Lake Erie would be in trouble.
“Basically, Ground Zero is the Illinois River. And that’s where the connection to Lake Michigan is at the Chicago Area Waterway System,” said John Navarro, an aquatic stewardship program administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. “That’s where the electrical barrier is trying to keep them out.”
The barrier uses electrical current to keep fish from moving into Lake Michigan. Because all of the Great Lakes are connected, Lake Erie would be their next stop.
The Asian silver carp and bighead carp already are in the Illinois and Ohio rivers, so the threat is real.
Another key piece of infrastructure needed to prevent carp from reaching the Great Lakes is the Brandon Road Lock near Joliet, Illinois, which would help prevent the fish from traveling between the Mississippi River basin through the Chicago Area Waterway System and into the Great Lakes basin.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the $831 million project and plans to begin construction next year. The project, which would fall under its budget, would be completed in 2028. The project includes a bundle of hindrances including an acoustic fish deterrent, air bubble layer, electric barrier, flushing lock and boat ramps.
But the president’s budget does not include money for the project to move forward despite promises he made at a rally in Michigan weeks ago. The project was supposed to be funded with the federal government paying 65% of the tab and non-federal partners, including Ohio and other states, picking up the rest.
“We are going to work together to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp - who would have thought that was going to happen? - and other invasive species . ... The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already has a plan, and we are going to get this done and ready to go,” President Donald Trump said. “It’s going to be very quick. We’re going to do it very quick. It’s not easy. We have all of the top technology, and we’re going to take care of it.”
Staffers in Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s office (D-Toledo) said the congresswoman is doing everything in her power as chairwoman of Energy and Water Appropriations, which has jurisdiction over the Army Corps, to ensure the project moves forward.
“President Trump’s work plan for the Army Corps of Engineers falls dramatically short of where it needs to be, and even reneges on a number of promises he has made to Great Lakes communities,” Kaptur said in a statement.
“By failing to prioritize the vital Brandon Road Lock and Dam, a critical infrastructure project that would prevent invasive Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan and devastating the Great Lakes ecosystem and economy, President Trump has not only disregarded Congressional direction, but also broke a direct promise to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp.”
Some silver and bighead carp already are in Ohio’s waterways.
“They’re just not nearly at the levels that Illinois is seeing, but the way these things operate, it’s only a matter of time before the Ohio River is probably going to be pretty full of bighead and silver carp,” Navarro said.
Years ago, Asian silver carp were brought to Southern states to keep catfish ponds clean and reduce disease.
“Basically, they’re swimming vacuum cleaners,” Navarro said.
The biological control of Asian silver carp was fine until the Mississippi River Basin flooded in the 1970s.
“Slowly, they have been heading our way, and those are the ones that we’re really, really trying very hard to keep out of the Great Lakes,” he said, noting there are also bighead, grass and black varieties of invasive Asian carp. “So we’re doing actions in Ohio to keep bighead and silver from getting into Lake Erie. And all the other Great Lakes states are working on the same thing.”
Ohio has three projects, including one completed last month, to help protect Lake Erie. The projects are being funded by the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. (Last week, the U.S. House passed a bipartisan bill, introduced by Kaptur, reauthorizing the initiative for five years and increasing the funding for it from $300 million annually to $475 million by fiscal 2026. The vote was 373-45 in favor. A companion piece of legislation has been introduced in the Senate.) The projects:
■ Ohio Erie Canal: The canal has a direct connection to Lake Erie. It runs parallel with the Tuscarawas River headwaters, which has a connection to the Ohio River. Floods can create a direct connection between the canal and the river. The project elevated the area to eliminate that connection and also added a screening structure. The work was completed in January for about $3 million.
■ Little Killbuck Creek connection: The project would include working with private landowners to build a rock berm between low-lying areas that connect during floods. It would allow water to move but not organisms. The project would cost an estimated $11 million to $15 million and be completed by about 2023.
■ Grand Lake St. Marys: The man-made lake drains east and west. Six state hatcheries use the water. The project, scheduled for completion in 2022, is still in the design stage and doesn’t have a price tag yet. Screening devices would be installed to keep the fish from moving out of the lake. The projects, if successful, would ward off carp from the west and another invasive fish, the northern snakehead fish, from the east.
The snakehead, also from Asia, has been nicknamed “Frankenfish.” It can eat small animals and even live on land for days at a time. The closest the snakehead has come to Ohio was in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The fish is already in parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“We’ll probably see them in Ohio, but they’re not here yet,” Navarro said.
Both Asian carp and snakehead fish can take over habitats and displace native fish.
“They wreak havoc with native species and change the dynamic of ecosystems,” said Brian Lynn, vice president of marketing and communication for the Sportsmen’s Alliance, a lobbying group that protects hunting, fishing and trapping.
“With limited native predators to control their numbers, if left unchecked, they can decimate native fisheries, which limits opportunities for sportsmen, has negative economic impacts for local businesses that depend on those anglers, and ultimately impacts conservation efforts throughout the ecosystem.”