Asian Carp Now Museum Feature
Waterways Council Release
18 January 2013
Visitors to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium can now view three Asian
bighead carp. The fish debuted at the museum December 20,
2012.
The very presence of these three fish underscore the fact that
carp can be introduced into a body of water through unintentional,
or even intentional, human efforts – actions not associated with
locks or river transportation operations. Fisheries
biologists with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources found
the carp in an inland lagoon at Chicago's Humboldt Park back in
October 2012.
Biologists at the Shedd Aquarium were hoping the addition of three
Asian bighead carp to the Invasive Species exhibit would persuade
visitors to help keep the voracious fish out of Lake
Michigan. Aquarium vice president Roger Germann pointed out
the three carp didn’t get into the Humboldt Park lagoon by
themselves. “The reality is, (the lagoon) is not connected to any
waterways,” he said.
“While we may never know how they got in there, I think all of us
kind of agree that there’s a couple ways that we find invasive
species like Asian carp making their way in these lagoons, through
unintentional discharge of bait, or it could have been through an
unintentional stocking at that time.”
This is yet another example of how possible misguided or even
nefarious human actions can impact the public discourse on this
important issue.