Officials in Indiana have a low-tech way of keeping the dreaded Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
They’ve just completed building a chain link fence to keep out the fish. The chain link fence is 1,200 feet long and 8 feet high. It has a sort of net to catch debris.
Crews finished the fence this week at Eagle Marsh near Fort Wayne, a northeast Indiana city near Ohio. The fence is bolstered by almost 120 concrete barriers. It’s hoped the barriers and fence can prevent adult Asian carp from swimming from the marsh into the Wabash River system, eventually making it into Lake Erie.
Keeping the Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan is also a fear in Chicago. A federal judge is considering whether to grant an injunction to close several locks that lead into the lake.
On a positive note, investigators last week said they had found no signs of Asian carp in Northwest Indiana waterways that feed into Lake Michigan. Biologist fear the Asian carp could destroy the $7 billion a year fishing industry in the Great Lakes by starving out native species.