"The Lake Left me."No fish left in Lake Michigan for fishermen

That still qualifies as Invasive because the horses now in America are not the native breed, not to mention the native breed died out so long ago they can barely be considered an indigenous species anymore.

Its like if we threw elephants into a tundra and claimed we had repopulated Mammoths.

As long as it's done properly, I don't see what's so wrong with environmental engineering.

Johnnyfog, did you read the article? It has absolutely nothing to do with overfishing, and the fishermen most certainly did not "bring it on themselves". The whole Lake Michigan ecosystem is being killed by a mussel that was accidentally introduced by freight ships dumping their ballast water.

@25

I don't think the horses that went extinct in the Pleistocene is the same type of horse the Spanish introduced.

Yes, I know that, but they fulfill (or fulfilled in the case of the Pleistocene horses) the same ecological niche.

edited 14th Aug '11 11:44:10 PM by rmctagg09

What was filling the niche in their absence?

Probably buffalo?

You realize they plan to do almost exactly that?

And, yeah, the fishermen didn't do this, the freighters did. Pointing fingers won't help, though, I want to know what Walker is going to do about...

Oh, who am I kidding? We're fucked.

Nothing was. The landscape adapted to not having their presence.

course, ironically, most archaeological evidence points to the extinction of Mammoths, pleistocense american horses and southern american giant sloths all to one culprit.

Humans.

We are damned efficient even in the ancient past at mass extinction.

edited 15th Aug '11 11:13:17 AM by Midgetsnowman

I checked some sources, and am getting contradictory information:

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/lakemich/OutdoorReport.html

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/08/changes_in_lake_michigan_salmo.html

http://greatlakesecho.org/2010/04/15/commercial-fishing-operators-scientists-study-great-lakes-whitefish-fluctuations/

The conclusions can be called "mixed". While there apparently has been a decline in commercial fishing in Lake Michigan, there appear to be enough fish left to support a recreational fishing industry. Declines in specific fish do appear to be due to invasive species, but the situation is more complex than that implied in the OP's linked article. Many of the invasive species are themselves fish, and have some commercial value.

So maybe not a dire as we thought?

Well, that's rather reassuring.

But the Quagga mussel is still a huge problem.

Any good ways to eradicate the fuckers?

I'm someone who would be willing to take big measures for victory.

Well, I remember a story a while back about the Japanese making a dent in a ridiculously hard to eradicate jellyfish by cooking them into space candy. Maybe we could try that

Grind up the mussels and make them into candy? ...I'd be willing to try it.

edited 16th Aug '11 6:52:57 AM by Bur

You do know that ground up shells are very similar to ground up limestone right?

Okay, so we build something with the mussels. (I'd still try to eat it.)

Bur, you just may be the most Crazy Awesome troper I've ever met.

I have a mental image of your avatar going all OM NOM NOM NOM through Lake Michigan as the little bastards run and scream in terror...

It is hilarious.

Whatever does not kill me is delicious.