‘Major defense for Lake Michigan’: How $1.1 billion project aims to block invasive Asian carp

Environmental and conservation groups celebrated this week following Illinois’ “historic” signing of an agreement to begin construction of a project designed to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes.

The project at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet will amount to what experts are calling a “fish gauntlet,” complete with a bubble barrier, an electric barrier and underwater acoustics.

With the leading edge of Asian carp thought to be 10 miles downriver of the Brandon Road Lock, the last line of defense between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan is a barrier at Romeoville.

Gov. J.B. Priztker signed the agreement alongside the state of Michigan and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $1.14 billion project will be funded by the federal, Illinois and Michigan governments, with the federal government taking on 90% of the cost.

Advocates, some of whom have been pushing for the project since the early 2000s, said the signing will help protect the region's fishery, economy and quality of life.

"We applaud Governor Pritzker and the State of Illinois for reaching this critical agreement with the State of Michigan to protect our priceless shared asset, Lake Michigan," Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter, said in a news release. "This agreement starts work on a major defense for Lake Michigan against invasive species, and we urge all parties to move as quickly as possible to protect our precious Great Lakes."

Invasive carp escaped into the Mississippi River basin during flooding in the 1970s and 1990s, after being imported from Southeast Asia to help with wastewater treatment and aquaculture. Having since migrated into the Illinois River, the voracious eaters and prolific breeders have caused serious damage to native fish populations.

“If they become established in the Great Lakes, invasive carp could outcompete native species and greatly harm the ecosystems of the entire Great Lakes region and its over $20 billion fishing and boating industries,” according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While ongoing strategies to keep the fish from entering the Great Lakes such as Romeoville’s electric barrier, do provide protection, experts say they're not foolproof.

The Brandon Road Lock and Dam has been identified as a “critical pinch point” where layered technologies could be used to stop Asian carp — and other invasive species — from moving upstream.

With the project moving ahead, the first phase of anti-fish deterrents will take approximately three years to construct, while construction of all deterrents is expected to take up to eight years.

· Jenny Whidden, jwhidden@dailyherald.com, is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.