Threat Realized as Live Capture Shows Asian Carp Have Unimpeded Access To Lake Michigan
August 10, 2010 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Map courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor.
Years of fears that the Asian carp would invade the Great Lakes and start out competing valuable commercial and recreational fish like salmon and perch for food are now beginning to being realized.
Earlier this summer the first live Asian carp - a bighead carp to be exact - was caught between the electric barrier in the Chicago Area Waterway System and Lake Michigan.
This capture proves that live Asian carp have unimpeded access to the lake and validates the accuracy of earlier environmental DNA (from microscopic bits of tissue shed from the fish) that indicated the fish were nearby.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Michigan’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction to close the Chicago-area locks. The renewed motion came in response to the DNA evidence of the carp getting past the O’Brien Lock and into Lake Michigan.