Round Goby, Great Lakes Invasive Species, To Be Targeted By Underwater Cannon

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Scientists want to know if an underwater cannon can protect valuable Great Lakes fish from a greedy predator.

The round goby (GOH'-bee) is an exotic species that hangs around spawning beds, gobbling up eggs of native varieties such as lake trout and whitefish that are important to the fishing industry.

Biologists plan to use a seismic gun to chase gobies from several Lake Michigan reefs that are popular spawning areas. The experiment is to begin next fall.

Researchers hope the shell-shocked gobies will stay away long enough for native fish eggs to hatch and escape.

It's part of the increasingly sophisticated war against invasive animals and plants that cost the nation's economy billions of dollars each year. The Great Lakes in particular are besieged by at least 185 aquatic invaders.

Comments

[thefreedomeagle]

10:13 PM on 01/02/2012

Scientists????? LOL and this cannon isnt going to scare every other fish away....come on guys get your out of where the sun doesnt shine. Do what Alaska does and use breeding communities, obvisously with communities being fence off.

[thefreedomeagle]

10:08 PM on 01/02/2012

The Great Lakes in particular are besieged by at least 185 aquatic invaders. OF WHICH MAN INTRODUCE TO THE LAKES AND ENTRANCES

[stuart100s]

04:54 PM on 01/02/2012

Maybe the big head carp will eat gobies. Count on the federal government to ef it up.

[Kassandra]

11:34 AM on 01/01/2012

Ahhhhhhh.....globalization!

[pgrlights]

09:45 PM on 12/31/2011

Michigans DNR is hopeless...Give me back the DNR days of Governor Milliken...All of our government people are just pawns for someone or something else.

[Genders]

10:05 PM on 12/31/2011

If only they were pawns of the citizens...

[Chipher]

03:01 AM on 12/31/2011

_http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/vessels/vgpermit.cfm -and-

http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/vgp_factsheet_english.pdf

Technical solutions to sterilizing marine bilge water are out there,

but were not adopted by EPA, the 'bilge water regulations' are just that

... bilge water.

[13champlain]

05:23 PM on 12/30/2011

We have them in Lake Champlain. We also have a huge problem with Zebra mussels and Cormorants.

[jdmn17]

08:18 PM on 12/30/2011

Gotta love the fishermen who don't bother to clean their boats and trailers as they move from lake to lake. Zebra Mussels are going to take over all the lakes in MN over the next few years because the fishermen are too dang lazy to clean their boats and trailers - or drunk and lazy.

[CaseyComo]

03:21 PM on 12/31/2011

Stupid and selfish factor in there, too. Can't forget stupid and selfish.

[norby413]

03:40 PM on 12/31/2011

The safeguards in place here at Lake Tahoe are draconian. They'll tear your boat apart if you break their seal after inspection. If your boat leaves the lake, it's required to be cleaned and resinpected and sealed before launching again. Very expensive.