The emerald ash borer was accidentally realsed into the United States from Asia. Since its release, the invasive beetle has been extremely destructive to native ash trees in the United States. Scientists travelled to China to study the emerald ash borer and to try and discover the emerald ash borer’s Achilles heel — or a parasite to be precise — by investigating the beetle’s life stages. They discovered various species of parasitic wasps that attack the emerald ash borer during the various stages of its life or during certains times of the year. As a result, in an attempt to slow down the beetle and to level the playing field, scientists are releasing these parasitic wasps to fight the emerald ash borer in the United States. An environmental assessment was conducted to determine whether the wasps would attack native species, and it was determined that the release of these insects would not significantly impact the natural environments of the United States.
Recently, DNA evidence by Notre Dame University scientists seems to confirm that Asian carp have breached the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ electrical fish barrier, which protects Lake Michigan from invasive species such as the Asian carp.
Along some stretches of the Illinois River, the carp make up 95 percent of the biomass and they are considered poor for eating or as a game fish. Silver carp, which leap into the air when disturbed by passing motorboats, have injured boaters.
Two electrical barriers in the canal were erected in 2002 and 2006 to shock any fish, particularly carp, that try to swim up the canal to Lake Michigan. The newer barrier is being switched off to perform maintenance on it.
To give themselves a window to complete the task and keep any carp at bay below the barrier, authorities dumped into the canal more than 2,000 pounds (900 kg) of the natural poison rotenone that prevents fish gills from absorbing oxygen.
The toxin, which is used as a broad-spectrum insecticide and pesticide, kills fish and freshwater snails but does not harm other animals. It dissipates within two days, though authorities planned to introduce a neutralizing agent to speed up the process.
Video: Fears mount over carp and Great Lakes
Video: Asian Carp Lake Invasions
Video: Granholm to Cox: stop the Asian carp
Video: Biologist Dr. Dan O’Keefe, a Michigan Sea Grant SW District Extention Educator, says it’s inevitable that Asian carp will breach electrical barrier and eventually reach Lake Michigan
Video: Wild Jumping Carp On Illinois River
UPDATE 1 (4 Dec. 09): Video: Bighead Asian carp found in Chicago
The “master agreement” details how the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers will share costs and duties for 68 projects Congress approved in 2000 to restore the natural flow of the River of Grass.
Both sides hailed the agreement — reached when the Obama administration relented in a dispute over land values likely to shift as much as a half-billion dollars onto the federal ledger — as a breakthrough that should move restoration from talk to action.
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Terrence “Rock” Salt, a deputy assistant secretary of the Army who oversees the Corps, said construction could begin within months, starting with reclamation of 55,000 acres in the Picayune Strand, site of a Southwest Florida development that flopped decades ago. The Corps has $41 million in stimulus funding for that job.
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Over the next two years, the Obama administration has budgeted or is seeking congressional approval for almost a half-billion dollars to begin restoration projects, including ones to restore freshwater flows to Biscayne Bay coastal wetlands, overhaul the C-111 canal to keep more water in Everglades National Park and build a reservoir to bolster Broward County’s water supply and limit seepage from adjacent Everglades marshes.
Down the road, the agreement also could potentially open the door for federal help to complete Gov. Charlie Crist’s controversial $536 million deal to buy 73,000 acres from the U.S. Sugar Corp. and convert them to massive reservoirs and pollution-treatment marshes.
Meanwhile, Florida’s Burmese python problem literally continues to grow bigger and bigger. From MiamiHerald.com:
Staff at the Okeechobee Veterinary Hospital routinely handle large animals. Along with pet dogs and cats, they treat hogs, horses, cows and bulls.
But the enormous critter that slithered uninvited onto the hospital grounds Thursday stunned everyone. It turned out to be one of the biggest Burmese pythons found roaming free in Florida.
The constrictor stretched 17 feet, two inches and measured 26 inches around at its thickest point. It weighed in at a staggering 207 pounds — four pounds more than the Miami Dolphins’ brawny No. 1 draft pick, Vontae Davis.
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Florida wildlife managers pointed to the find as the latest, and largest, evidence that the exotic snake, which has settled into the Everglades, is spreading across the state.
“The capture of this large python shows us how well these snakes can thrive in the wild and create a dangerous situation after illegal release or escape,” said Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It also illustrates why the FWC is partnering with other agencies to implement python control measures in South Florida.”
Two weeks ago, the FWC began an experimental permit program that allows reptile experts to euthanize Burmese pythons on state-managed lands around the Everglades, where the population is now estimated to number in the tens of thousands.
But the python patrol didn’t bag the giant snake that made its way onto the hospital’s 20-acre compound.
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Wildlife officers scanned for a microchip, required for pets under state law since 2007, but found nothing.
Currently, these massive constrictors have established a breeding population within the Florida Everglades—which is expected to spread northwards—and this invasion has been blamed on the pet trade. Burmese pythons grow very large, so their prey can be large, but younger snakes feed on smaller animals. As a result, the impact on Florida’s ecosystems is systemic.
Water managers dispatched two experts to Washington recently to back a bill targeting an Everglades problem that seems to get bigger every year. The latest, largest evidence emerged in mid-May: a Burmese python stretching 16½ feet.
It is the longest yet of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the exotic constrictors the South Florida Water Management District has pulled off its lands and levees in the past few years. More sobering: The female was pregnant, carrying a clutch of 59 eggs — more proof the giant snakes are breeding in the wild.
“These are not little snakes running around. These are massive, dangerous animals,” said district spokesman Randy Smith.
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But at its first hearing in April, the bill ran into what a co-sponsor quipped was a “hornet’s nest of opposition” from pet owners, breeders, hobbyists and pet stores. They expressed outrage to lawmakers in telephone calls, e-mails and YouTube videos — including one titled “Pets in Peril, Politicians Gone Wild” — arguing that the legislation would bar the ownership of anything more exotic than a Doberman or a Siamese cat.
“One-third of our nation has non-native species as pets, and apart from dogs, cats and goldfish, which are exempt [in the bill], virtually every species in those homes falls under” the legislation, said Marshall Meyers, CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. The bill “could shut down major segments of the pet industry virtually overnight.”
Proponents, including a coalition of 15 major environmental organizations such as the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation, call the fears unjustified. They say the bill targets only species that pose a threat.
Still, some suggest the language in the bill is vague.
“There were some legitimate concerns, no one doubts that,” said Peter Jenkins, director of international conservation at Defenders of Wildlife. He notes that pet owners were alarmed when some animals — ferrets, gerbils, guinea pigs and others — weren’t named as species that would be exempt from the bill.
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Biologists argue that more than 400 of the 1,300 species on the endangered-species list are at risk primarily because they compete with — or are targets of — invasive species.
As one of the largest snakes in the world, sometimes topping 20 feet, pythons potentially could challenge the natural dominant predators of the Everglades or other wild places — a concern illustrated in 2005 by the now-famous photos of a 13-foot python that exploded after swallowing a 6-foot alligator.
Water district spokesman Smith said the impact is obvious along the L-67 levee.
“You won’t find a rabbit down there anymore,” he said. “That’s the most noticeable effect. It [the snake] doesn’t seem to have any predators, and it preys on native wildlife.”
There are even fishing guides, such as “Got The Blues Guide Service,” for the James River, which provide an opportunity for anglers to catch their own monster James River blue catfish. Recently, a 102-pound blue was pulled from the waters of the James River. The current world record, approved by the International Game Fish Association, is a 124-pound monster blue catfish “caught in mid May [2005] by Tim Pruitt of Alton, Ill” in the Mississippi River. From the Los Angeles Times:
A 102-pound, 4-ounce blue catfish caught last week in Virginia may qualify as a new state record.
Tim Wilson was fishing with friend Danny Ayers on the James River south of Richmond when he caught the big cat on 30-pound test using cut shad as bait. The fish was so large it took both men to land it.
The behemoth is the first freshwater fish over 100 pounds caught in Virginia.
The emerald ash borer was accidentally realsed into the United States from Asia. Since its release, the invasive beetle has been extremely destructive to native ash trees in the United States. Scientists travelled to China to study the emerald ash borer and to try and discover the emerald ash borer’s Achilles heel — or a parasite to be precise — by investigating the beetle’s life stages. They discovered various species of parasitic wasps that attack the emerald ash borer during the various stages of its life or during certains times of the year. As a result, in an attempt to slow down the beetle and to level the playing field, scientists are releasing these parasitic wasps to fight the emerald ash borer in the United States. An environmental assessment was conducted to determine whether the wasps would attack native species, and it was determined that the release of these insects would not significantly impact the natural environments of the United States.
Recently, DNA evidence by 
