The Great Lakes Fishery Commission today commended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for completing the “Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study,” (GLMRIS) a major report aimed at finding ways to prevent the movement of harmful invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The study, mandated by Congress, outlines a range of options available to re-separate the two basins, which were connected artificially more than one hundred years ago. The options presented, while protecting the entire Great Lakes basin from species like Asian carps and snakehead, also benefit the people of the Chicago region through better flood management and improved water quality. The report did not provide an exact plan (called a “preferred option”) for implementation, prompting the commission to join with scores of interested organizations and policy-makers to call for an immediate effort to agree upon and fund a specific project to achieve separation. Read more

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, today confirmed a single live Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) was caught near Dunnville, Ontario in the Grand River, near Lake Erie on August 16. This specimen follows an earlier catch of a Grass Carp on April 27, 2013 in the same area. Testing has confirmed that this specimen was sterile; and, therefore, not able to reproduce. Read more

Several changes to Ontario fish names have occurred according to Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 7th Edition. For details see Changes to Fish Names 2013.