Wildlife officials in Indianapolis are hoping to stop the invasive Asian Carp from getting into America’s Great Lakes by agreeing to have a 10-foot-tall, chain-linked fence intended to hold back the fish which are getting ever closer to 20% of the world’s fresh water surface.
Indiana announced their fencing plans earlier in the month but there have been a few stumbling blocks in the way of settling on a design. This was finally agreed on Tuesday and has been given a date of “later in the summer” when it will be erected.
All this has stemmed from biologists saying that they fear the insatiable carp, which have been to known to reach 4ft in length and some up to 100lbs, could reach the Great Lakes and destroy their $7billion a year fishing industry by starving out the native fish and other species that are resident in the lakes.
People are saying how the smaller carp would be able to fit through the gaps in the fencing, but Phil Bloom a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said: “Those small fish aren’t able to battle that kind of current at their young age, so we don’t expect them to be in that area, our concern isn’t the small fish—it’s adult fish of spawning age.”
