Illinois One Step Closer to Keeping Invasive Carp Out of Great Lakes

Illinois one step closer to keeping invasive carp out of Great Lakes

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.The Silver carp is big, unwieldy, and requires Joe Greendyk use both hands to measure it before tossing the fish overboard into the Illinois River.The nearly 2-foot-long aquatic menace, which now overruns the river, has become the target of a state-run monitoring program to rein in its exploding numbers.“They're pretty slimy …

Racing against time, Illinois clears a major hurdle in containing an invasive fish

The silver carp is big, unwieldy, and requires Joe Greendyk to use both his hands to measure it before tossing the fish overboard into the Illinois River. The nearly 2-foot-long invasive fish, which now overruns the river, has become the centerpiece of a state-run monitoring program to rein in its exploding numbers. “They’re pretty slimy and pretty strong,” Greendyk, a seasonal fisheries technician with the Illinois Natural History Survey, or IN…