NEW YORK, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- To stem invasive carp, which have menaced U.S. Midwest rivers for decades, the Brandon Road Interbasin Project (BRIP) is being mulled at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam so that the carp can't get any closer to Lake Michigan, where scientists deem as the fish's likeliest entry point into the Great Lakes and its fishing industry valued at 5.1 billion U.S. dollars annually, reported Bloomberg News on Friday.
Building the BRIP can be started in January at a cost of 1.15 billion dollars, with Illinois, Michigan and the federal government splitting the tab, according to the report.
"The barrier will be the most ambitious defense against the carp in America," noted the report. Their deep hunger for plankton has wreaked havoc on ecosystems, effectively pushing out native fish throughout the Mississippi and its tributaries.
Already, state and federal governments have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into control measures, including electric barriers, harvesting programs and even campaigns aimed at chefs and home cooks, it added. ■
