LAKE OKOBOJI, IA -
We're getting our first look at the barrier that's supposed to keep invasive fish out of the Iowa Great Lakes.
Wildlife officials installed a 45-inch tall wire fence at Lower Gar Lake today.
Invasive Asian Carp escaped from farms and sewage ponds in the South in the 1970s, and have been migrating north since then. During last year's floods, they made it past Linn Grove Dam on the Little Sioux River.
The wire fence is just a temporary barrier, and wildlife officials worry it might not be effective, because Asian Carp can jump.
"In case we have a high water event we wanted to get a device in place in the Iowa Great Lakes outlet area that would prevent a surge of these fish from coming up if we did have high water and so this temporary barrier that you see is an attempt, on really short notice to put in a type of a fence that could prevent these fish from coming in," said Iowa Department of Natural Resources Biologist Mike Hawkins.
The long term fix is an electronic barrier to shock fish that try to enter the Lakes. Fundraising is underway: it's expected to cost $700,000.
