Chicago -- An expensive fish kill that netted just one Asian carp in a Chicago ship canal was worth it to protect Lake Michigan from the invasive fish, officials said.
"The bottom line is we have to know what we're dealing with. We have to know where they are and how many there are," Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud said of the $3 million kill conducted this week in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
The 22-pound dead Asian carp was among tens of thousands of dead fish found Thursday, a day after the canal was poisoned with 2,200 gallons of toxic rotenone , the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
Previous DNA sampling suggested the carp already may have penetrated underwater electric barriers and entered Lake Michigan. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to shut down one of the two barriers this week for maintenance and supported the fish kill as a preventive measure.
The lone dead Asian carp was found about six miles from the electric barrier, McCloud said.
The dead fish were to be scooped up and taken to a landfill. A detoxifying agent was applied to the canal waters Thursday to limit the spread of rotenone beyond the kill area, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
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