C Block Odd
Ms. Davies
Citation:
Wines, Michael. "Bracing for Carp in Great Lakes, but Debating Their Presence" New York Times. 4 Jan 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us/bracing-for-carp-in-great-lakes-but-debating-their-presence.html?ref=science>
Website Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us/bracing-for-carp-in-great-lakes-but-debating-their-presence.html?ref=science
Over
the decades, it has become increasingly apparent that a fisherman’s worst
nightmare as well as a scientist’s is possibly coming true. And the Asian carp or otherwise known as the
silver carp is the cause. Fishermen and scientists despise these fish for a
good reason. Through one drop of water,
scientists were able to determine the likely possibility of an invasion in the
Great Lakes. Scientist found evidence of remnants of this fish.
As indicated by their name they were brought from Asia to maintain algae-ridden
fishponds, yet some escaped and these group have fish have been “moving
steadily up the Mississippi toward the lakes” since 1976. The reason why the
silver carp is viewed negatively is because of reproduction rate and food
habit. Although they’re not carnivorous fish, they still would have an equally
damaging affect. They are ravenous consumers of plankton, which other fish in
Lake Michigan rely on during their life cycles. On top of that they can grow up
to 60 pounds, which is major problem since they consume about 10 percent of
their body weight. This could lead to overcrowding the native inhabitants of
the lake. If this occurs, the native fish population would dwindle causing a
huge financial loss in the fishing industry. Yet, whether the positive reading
for carp DNA in the Great Lakes indicates there are actually carps is a serious
discussion. Timothy Strakosh, a biologist who specializes with fish, says ‘“ .
. . highest probability of the eDNA source is most likely not a fish.”’ The
word eDNA refers to the genetic material that isn’t taken directly from a fish,
but are things like gills and scales which have been shed in the water. He
expands this thought by saying how the whole issue may be nothing as birds
could have transferred carp DNA into the water through their droppings, or
boats that had traveled to carp infested rivers. Lindsay Chadderton, a
scientist for the Nature Conservancy, disagrees saying, ‘“The most . . .
probable explanation for the DNA of Asian carp is the presence of live fish.”’ Chadderton believes that DNA would be hard to
detect in the lake from things like bird’s dropping, which provide low-quality
DNA compared to one directly from a living fish. Chadderton’s belief, however,
seems all the more likely topped off with other clues like the events that
happened sometime in the last decade and the 1990s in Lake Erie, where
fishermen had caught three bighead carp. Although, this event was known as a
fluke and when they resampled the same body of water in November, the carp DNA
test came back negative. So in the end the question still remains; are there
carps out there in the Great Lakes? So far there is no real ground evidence,
but scientists will return this May for resampling to offer a deeper analysis.
I
chose this article partially because it was the only article out of the ones I
read that actually engaged my attention. It discussed an interesting topic of
how people are debating whether the existence of these fish, which are
supposedly lethal to the native fish population, in the Great Lakes. This
article is important to society because clearly it will impact many people if
these carp are actually or are in the progress into entering the Great Lakes. Technically
this issue is a bit more important to the fishing industry. It will decrease
the other fish population in the Great Lakes, which in the process affects the
fishermen who harvest these fish for a living.
The
article for the most part, is well written, intriguing, and seems to be
thoroughly researched. The best part about the article was that the author
wrote everything in a manner which I could understand the material. The one
term I didn’t know was eDNA, but the author explained to be the shorthand form
of environmental DNA and also provided a definition. I felt there really were
no weak points in the article I read, except for the switching between the term
Asian carp with silver carp, which for me, was slightly confusing because when
I first read it I thought it was two different types of carp. Maybe the author
could have mentioned that the Asian carp more of a broad term.
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