In concentrated numbers, the leaping Asian carp pose significant danger to boaters navigating the open rivers. But from a purely ecological standpoint, the non-native carp feed primarily on plankton and bacteria, collapsing the food chain. (Credit: CBS)
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — Although testing earlier this year found Asian carp DNA in Lake Calumet, four days of intensive, newly completed monitoring has turned up no trace of the voracious fish.
The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee said Thursday that it worked hard to find carp. Government workers and commercial fishermen worked side by side, using an array of nets, stun-fishing and hydro-acoustic surveys to try to find the carp.
The committee said, in a release, that it was particularly encouraged to find large numbers of buffalo and gizzard shad, two types of fish that share the habitat preferences of the Asian carp.
In all, the committee said, the scientists and fishermen, working through Aug. 4, collected more than 8,600 fish.
The monitoring is not finished. Some of the crews moved this week to the north branch of the Chicago River, near Goose Island, and to the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, near its Argo plant.
The committee did not indicate how quickly it would have the results of the latest monitoring.
