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.