Media Release: Great Lakes Conservation Groups Launch Video Series on Impact of Asian Carp

National Wildlife Federation | Prairie Rivers Network | Michigan United Conservation Clubs

Media Release

Contact: Drew YoungeDyke, National Wildlife Federation, [email protected], 734-887-7119

Great Lakes Conservation Groups Launch Video Series on Impact of Asian Carp
Short films ask “What Will Be Lost if Asian Carp Invade the Great Lakes?”

June 6, 2017 – A new short film series looks at what would be lost if Asian carp invade the Great Lakes. The videos feature businesses and individuals highlighting the economic, recreational, environmental and cultural losses they would suffer if Asian carp reached the Great Lakes.

“We can’t replace this. We can’t rebuild this ecosystem,” says northern Michigan fly fishing guide Brian Kozminski, in the first video of the series. “I would be out of a job if Asian carp were to take hold in the Great Lakes.”

The films were produced for the National Wildlife Federation, the Prairie Rivers Network in Illinois and Michigan United Conservation Clubs to increase public awareness of the threat posed by Asian carp. This comes at a time when a delayed draft report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awaits a green light from the administration to be released showing options for stopping the invasive species’ advance below the Chicago Area Waterway System at the Brandon Road Lock & Dam in Illinois.

"Asian carp are a threat to our Great Lakes, economy and way of life," said Marc Smith, Great Lakes regional conservation director for the National Wildlife Federation. “It’s been eight years since scientists discovered evidence of Asian carp at the doorsteps of the Great Lakes, and we still need stronger action to protect our Great Lakes. Our goal with these short films is to remind people of the urgency of putting additional measures in place to stop Asian carp.”

"Asian carp have been a disaster for Illinois' rivers,” said Robert Hirschfeld, the filmmaker and water policy specialist for Prairie Rivers Network. “But we have an opportunity at this moment, if we take decisive action, to prevent that disaster from reaching the Great Lakes."

"MUCC's members have long been calling for action to keep invasive carp out of Michigan's waters,” said Dan Eichinger, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs. “If we allow them to get here, they not only threaten fisheries in our Great Lakes but inland lakes, rivers, and streams as well.  We simply cannot let that happen."  

New short videos are planned for release every two weeks and will be hosted on the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Office’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-0fizFF2qWKEnM2q93i5LQ and via its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nwfgreatlakes. The first episode can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaRKWkPAMUE.

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Drew YoungeDyke

Communications Coordinator

National Wildlife Federation

Great Lakes Regional Center

Office: (734) 887-7119

[email protected]

www.nwf.org

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