You’re Gonna Put What in the Water?!?!

December 4, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized

There is a possible Asian Carp outbreak waiting to happen in Chicago and the powers that be thought that the only way to contain these fish from getting into the Great Lakes was to poison the water. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources launched an unprecedented fish kill by dumping gallons of the toxin rotenone into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Thousands of fish died.

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3 Comments

tully on December 5th, 2009
1
Will,

What a crazy issue. I’m sure they have their reasons but it’s still pretty ridiculous. Either way, nice job covering what was going on and that shot of the bird is a nice addition. I think it works well with these other photos because the first thing I thought about was “If the fish are poisoned and the birds eat the fish, what’s to say the birds won’t die as well?”
alma on December 14th, 2009
2
You’re an awesome photographer. That story stuck with me when I heard it in a “brief period of hmmm, control the ecosystem with toxic poison to kill fish so they don’t control the ecosystem and kill fish? hmm…” Your series of pictures really conveys an effective thought piece. I came across the pics when I was conducting a search for my name and Chicago. Keep up the work of fantastic photo journalism, or whatever.
drew Godleski on December 14th, 2009
3
Awesome shots to tell the story. I heard they didn’t even kill any of the actual Asian Carps just the good guys. Talk about friendly fire!