Survivability of Asian Carp Larvae in Barge Ballast Tanks on the Illinois River

The purpose of this study was to determine if Asian carp eggs and larvae could be entrained into and survive in barge ballast tanks on the Illinois River.  Their survival in ballast tanks could be a potential mechanism to allow their passage through the Army Corps’ electrical dispersal barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and possibly enter Lake Michigan.  Due to the lack of Asian carp eggs in the river during the study, this testing targeted only their larvae. This study was conducted in June 2011 at Pekin, Illinois using a hopper barge’s ballast tanks.  Entrainment was determined by flooding the tanks, filtering the water pumped from the tanks, and identifying and enumerating all collected larval fish.  Larval survival was tested by placing known quantities of fish larvae in cages submerged in the ballast tanks.  Larval survival was also determined after a single pass through a portable pump.  Results indicated the majority of entrained fish were non-Asian carp.  Survival of Asian carp larvae in the test and control cages was high for periods up to 144 hours, even when the ballast water had low dissolved oxygen concentrations.  A very low percentage of Asian carp larvae survived pump passage.