This sign informs all who navigate the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal of safety precautions to follow while transiting the electrical fish barrier near Romeoville, Illinois. Photo credit: USFWS.

This non-descript, climate controlled building in Romeoville, Illinois, houses sophisticated electronic equipment used to generate and maintain an electrical fish barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Photo credit: USFWS.

La Crosse NFWCO biologist Mark Steingraeber led surveillance efforts for Asian carps in portions of the Illinois Waterway System near Joliet on August 12-13.  With assistance from Chris Olds, a Lake Superior State University undergraduate student and Service employee (Student Career Experience Program) now detailed to the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, and Mari Nord, a biologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago, trammel nets and electrofishing gear were used in efforts to capture or detect the presence of Asian carps at several sites in the Brandon Road and Lockport Pools.  No Asian carp species were caught or observed at any of the survey sites.  These Service-led efforts completed surveillance requirements for the month to determine whether Asian carps have approached closer to an electrical barrier, located further upstream in the Lockport Pool (river mile 296) near Romeoville, which is designed to prevent these fish from entering Lake Michigan.  Bighead carp and silver carp have previously been captured as far upstream as river mile 281 and river mile 275, respectively, in the Dresden Island Pool.  The responsibility for conducting monthly surveillance for Asian carps is shared and rotates among the Service, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the Illinois Natural History Survey.