This has the potential to wipe out the commercial fishing industry in the Great Lakes which in Lake Michigan alone is a few billion dollars.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Asian predator caught in Lake Michigan has potential to irreversibly damage our ecosystem
An ugly fish plucked from Lake Michigan by a Tinley Park man last weekend is almost certainly a northern snakehead, state fish biologists said Thursday.
And that has them a bit worried.
The northern snakehead is a predator native to Asia and Africa whose voracious appetite can upset ecosystems. It's illegal to bring live ones into the United States, and Illinois and several other states have adopted laws against the fish, which are sometimes kept as pets.
Matt Philbin, a 32-year-old contractor, caught the fish Saturday in Burnham Harbor and quickly realized it was like no fish he had ever seen.
Philbin was angling for salmon in the harbor after attending a remodeling show at nearby McCormick Place. As he dropped his line in a corner he usually avoids, he saw the unusual fish and scooped it up in his net.
"I knew enough to know it didn't belong there," Philbin said of his catch, which was about 18 inches long and weighed two to three pounds.
After driving home to Tinley Park with the fish in an empty bucket, he transferred it to another bucket with water to preserve the colors. It started flapping around even though it had been out of water for nearly an hour, he said.
"It was definitely back to life for a short time," said Philbin, who passed it along to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on Thursday.
He had posted digital photos of the creature on a fishing Web site. People who saw the photos suspected that it was a snakehead and encouraged him to turn it over to authorities.
"We have the fish in hand, and it is a snakehead," said Mike Conlin, the agency's director of fisheries. "It looks like a northern snakehead, which is the one that we would be very concerned about because it could survive in these climes, through our cold winters."
After some northern snakeheads were found in a Maryland pond in 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned importation of live ones from abroad and across state lines.
"They're totally illegal unless they're in a scientific or educational institution," Conlin said.
To make absolutely sure they know what they've got, DNR scientists will have the fish examined by an outside expert, said Tom Trudeau, who administers the department's Lake Michigan Fisheries Program in Des Plaines.
The big question is whether Philbin found an isolated fish that someone acquired for an aquarium for the dinner table and dumped in the lake or, in a worse scenario, one of an established snakehead population.
"This fish is a voracious predator," Conlin said. "If they reproduce and do well, they'll lead to the decline of other predators."
The DNR will soon begin scouring Burnham Harbor in search of more snakehead, working with the Chicago Department of Environment and the Chicago Park District. Crews will use electrofishing gear to guide live fish into nets.
The Washington, D.C., area went snakehead-crazy when the fish were found two years ago in a Maryland pond, which was eventually drained to wipe them out.
The fish's even-a-mother-would-shudder face and ability to survive out of water for days fed the frenzy. The snakehead can even wiggle short distances across land to find water.
Becky Wajda, director of wildlife diversity for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said 19 adult snakehead have been drawn from the Potomac River and its tributaries this year, including five females carrying eggs.
"Two years ago, from the media perspective, this seemed to be kind of a joke," Wajda said.
But because of its big appetite and unusual ability to cling to life through harsh circumstances, the species has the potential to destroy the ecological balance, she said.
No one is sure of the extent of the ecological threat, she said, because there has been little research on the species in open systems comparable to the Potomac River or Great Lakes. Virginia and Maryland scientists are working with the Smithsonian Institution to conduct DNA analysis of the snakeheads found there.
"We're sort of breaking new ground here," Wajda said.
Northern snakeheads look similar to bowfins, which are fish native to eastern North America. They have elongated bodies and are generally tan with dark brown mottling. They have a long dorsal fin and canine-like teeth and can grow as long as 40 inches.
The DNR encourages anyone who may have spotted or caught one to contact the Illinois Natural History Survey at (847) 872-8677.
The snakehead is not the only Asian invader Illinois is trying to fight.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is set to build an electric barrier in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Another reason not to flush your unwanted pets or release them into the wild.
This article was courtsey of the Daily Southtown, a local Chicagoland paper.
Tolak
Friday, October 15, 2004
Asian predator caught in Lake Michigan has potential to irreversibly damage our ecosystem
An ugly fish plucked from Lake Michigan by a Tinley Park man last weekend is almost certainly a northern snakehead, state fish biologists said Thursday.
And that has them a bit worried.
The northern snakehead is a predator native to Asia and Africa whose voracious appetite can upset ecosystems. It's illegal to bring live ones into the United States, and Illinois and several other states have adopted laws against the fish, which are sometimes kept as pets.
Matt Philbin, a 32-year-old contractor, caught the fish Saturday in Burnham Harbor and quickly realized it was like no fish he had ever seen.
Philbin was angling for salmon in the harbor after attending a remodeling show at nearby McCormick Place. As he dropped his line in a corner he usually avoids, he saw the unusual fish and scooped it up in his net.
"I knew enough to know it didn't belong there," Philbin said of his catch, which was about 18 inches long and weighed two to three pounds.
After driving home to Tinley Park with the fish in an empty bucket, he transferred it to another bucket with water to preserve the colors. It started flapping around even though it had been out of water for nearly an hour, he said.
"It was definitely back to life for a short time," said Philbin, who passed it along to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on Thursday.
He had posted digital photos of the creature on a fishing Web site. People who saw the photos suspected that it was a snakehead and encouraged him to turn it over to authorities.
"We have the fish in hand, and it is a snakehead," said Mike Conlin, the agency's director of fisheries. "It looks like a northern snakehead, which is the one that we would be very concerned about because it could survive in these climes, through our cold winters."
After some northern snakeheads were found in a Maryland pond in 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned importation of live ones from abroad and across state lines.
"They're totally illegal unless they're in a scientific or educational institution," Conlin said.
To make absolutely sure they know what they've got, DNR scientists will have the fish examined by an outside expert, said Tom Trudeau, who administers the department's Lake Michigan Fisheries Program in Des Plaines.
The big question is whether Philbin found an isolated fish that someone acquired for an aquarium for the dinner table and dumped in the lake or, in a worse scenario, one of an established snakehead population.
"This fish is a voracious predator," Conlin said. "If they reproduce and do well, they'll lead to the decline of other predators."
The DNR will soon begin scouring Burnham Harbor in search of more snakehead, working with the Chicago Department of Environment and the Chicago Park District. Crews will use electrofishing gear to guide live fish into nets.
The Washington, D.C., area went snakehead-crazy when the fish were found two years ago in a Maryland pond, which was eventually drained to wipe them out.
The fish's even-a-mother-would-shudder face and ability to survive out of water for days fed the frenzy. The snakehead can even wiggle short distances across land to find water.
Becky Wajda, director of wildlife diversity for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said 19 adult snakehead have been drawn from the Potomac River and its tributaries this year, including five females carrying eggs.
"Two years ago, from the media perspective, this seemed to be kind of a joke," Wajda said.
But because of its big appetite and unusual ability to cling to life through harsh circumstances, the species has the potential to destroy the ecological balance, she said.
No one is sure of the extent of the ecological threat, she said, because there has been little research on the species in open systems comparable to the Potomac River or Great Lakes. Virginia and Maryland scientists are working with the Smithsonian Institution to conduct DNA analysis of the snakeheads found there.
"We're sort of breaking new ground here," Wajda said.
Northern snakeheads look similar to bowfins, which are fish native to eastern North America. They have elongated bodies and are generally tan with dark brown mottling. They have a long dorsal fin and canine-like teeth and can grow as long as 40 inches.
The DNR encourages anyone who may have spotted or caught one to contact the Illinois Natural History Survey at (847) 872-8677.
The snakehead is not the only Asian invader Illinois is trying to fight.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is set to build an electric barrier in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Another reason not to flush your unwanted pets or release them into the wild.
This article was courtsey of the Daily Southtown, a local Chicagoland paper.
Tolak
