Asian carp environmental DNA is discovered during monitoring exercises in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, 10 km from Lake Michigan. This leads agencies to believe that bigheaded carps could be much closer to the Great Lakes basin than previously thought. However, it is important to note that this environmental DNA could have originated from a wide variety of sources (e.g., transfer from a ship) and does not imply that a live fish was necessarily present at this location. During a scheduled shutdown for routine maintenance of the electrical barriers which control fish movement through that waterway, Canada contributes equipment and expertise toward containment efforts to prevent Asian carps from passing through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal into the Great Lakes.
Development of an Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework begins and sets forth a series of short- and long-term actions to control the spread of Bighead and Silver carps and prevent their introduction and establishment in the Great Lakes Basin.
Updates to the pre-existing electrical barrier are implemented and a second electric barrier becomes operational.
