A Fine Kettle of Fish

I don't mean to harp (carp?) on Asian carp, but everyone else is so why not? You can read about it everywhere. Check out Great Lakes Blogger for example. Dave Dempsey is always right on top of Great Lakes issues and has a lot to say on this one.

But I did want to tell you about a statistic I just heard on the radio. You may know that officials are dumping a poison into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to kill the carp while the US Army Corps of Engineers fixes the electric barrier put up to prevent the carp from getting into the Great Lakes. So far the poison, which is theoretically not toxic to humans, has killed only fish other than carp. But it is estimated that up to 200,000 pounds of fish could be killed by the poison. The fish will be removed from the canal and sent to landfills.

What a fine kettle of fish this is. Can you imagine the aroma wafting from the landfill that gets the haul? And why do I think this is just another futile effort to stop the carp from entering the Great Lakes, at the expense of other fish and perhaps people, too. And poisoning any water at any time with any type of lethal agent seems like a bad idea for any reason.

I also wish the Army Corp of Engineers had a better reputation for solving problems instead of creating them. But alas, my wish list for the Great Lakes just continues to get longer.