Asian carp

Once we were through the 12 miles of hell we thought we were in for a nice, if occasionally industrial, trip down the Illinois River. But that was because we hadn't really understood the issue of the asian carp. We had heard about the asian carp problem, we had even seen the videos, but we didn't really get it until we experienced it for ourselves.

The so-called asian carp is a silver carp that was imported in the 1960s to clean commercial fishing ponds in Arkansas. Unfortunately, they escaped into the Mississippi River and have been making their way north ever since. By now they have made it all the way up the Illinois River. The States of Michigan and Ohio, hysterical that the carp will escape from the rivers and pollute the Great Lakes, even sued to force the federal government to try and stop the migration northward of these fish. The result of that suit is an electrified barrier in the Illinois River that, in theory, the carp can't/won't cross.

When this fish barrier was being installed three years ago, the Coast Guard closed this section of the Illinois River to all but steel hull boats, effectively banning all recreational boats while permitting the tug and barge traffic to continue.  This took place in the fall when the bulk of the Great Loopers were in Chicago trying to head south. For a while it looked like the only way they were going to get out of Chicago was to have their boats trucked around the fish barrier. While the distance wasn't far, there was only one company who would agree to do it and, as you might expect, they wanted a rapacious amount of money for their service. Finally, after pressure from every stranded boater's congressional delegation, the Coast Guard agreed that there wasn't any reason why fiberglass boats couldn't transit the fish barrier and the river was opened again to recreational traffic.

So what is the big deal? These damn fish are easily disturbed by the sounds of a boat's engine and when they get disturbed, they jump out of the water, as much as 8-10 feet out of the water. The kid/woman in this YouTube video seems to think being pelted by 3-6 pound fish is fun but, believe me, fun is the last word I'd use to describe it. 

We had four of these monsters land on the boat in just two days. Two landed in the dinghy where we just left them until they died, then we threw them overboard. But the other two landed on the back deck. When they hit the hard surface of the deck they flop around, beating themselves up and flinging blood, scales and other disgusting stuff all over the place. By the time Jim was able to grab the first one and throw it off the boat, then entire back deck was a gory mess. While he drove the boat, I got out the cleaning supplies and scrubbed down the entire back deck. I hadn't even stood up to return the cleaning supplies to their storage spot when the second carp came over the rail and started flopping around! It was maddening.

But it could have been worse. We were actually traveling with other boaters, George and Sandy on M/V Rosalee, through the Illinois River. They left a port light (window) open in their bedroom and a carp actually came through the screen on the port light and landed on their bed. They didn't know it until Sandy went below for something and found the mess. Based on how bad my back deck looked after just a few minutes of carp flopping, I can't imagine what their sleeping cabin must have looked like. Poor Sandy was looking for a laundromat to wash her bedding. I would probably have been looking for a dumpster!

The carp are supposed to be in the Mississippi River as well; fortunately, we haven't seen any yet. We only have two more days on the Mississippi before we turn up into the Ohio River. Let's hope our luck holds on that long.