Illinois officials dumped 2,200 gallons of poison into the Sanitary and Shipping canal yesterday evening in an effort to kill a whole lot of Asian Carp.
The poison, rotenone, succeeded in killing some fish, Illinois Department of Natural Resources officials say, but not one Asian Carp has been spotted floating to the top of the canal.
"Our biologists are seeing dead fish in different areas of the canal, but this process will take all day and into tomorrow," said Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud to the Chicago Tribune.
The corpses from the dreaded Asian carp could start bobbing later on today, but the immediate absence of their lifeless bodies has some calling for other options for blocking them from the Great Lakes.
Other requests include closing the Sanitary and Shipping Canal. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm suggested as much yesterday when she asked her states Attorney General to pursue every legal option to force Illinois to defend Lake Michigan.
Even if the poison does end up killing the carp in the canal, more will need to be done.
"The problem does not go away after the poison has floated down the canal," Henry Henderson, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Midwest Program, told the Chicago Tribune. "It will require proactive and thoughtful action, two things that have been scarce during this slow-motion disaster."
