Breaking News: Asian carp found above electric barrier

The answer has finally been answered: yes, Asian carp have
breached the electic barrier in the Chicago Waterway System.

Well, at least one has.

The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee announced today
that one Bighead Asian carp has been found in Lake Calumet along
the Chicago Area Waterway System. This is the first physical
specimen that has been found in the CAWS above the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineer’s Electric Barrier System.

“We set out on a fact finding mission and we have found what we
were looking for,” said John Rogner, DNR’s Assistant Director.
“This is important evidence

and the more information we have about where Asian carp are, the
better chance we have of keeping them out of the Great Lakes.”

The Bighead carp was found in Lake Calumet which sits between T.
J. O’Brien Lock and Dam and Lake Michigan. The find was made in the
northwest corner of the lake near Harborside Golf Course,
approximately six miles downstream of Lake Michigan by a commercial
fisherman contracted by the Illinois DNR during routine sampling
efforts in the area. The fish was measured to be 34.6 inches
long

and weighed 19.6 pounds.