Trump is going soft on preventing invasive species from harming Great Lakes fisheries

The Trump administration has halted a plan to prevent the spread of a very destructive invasive species within Chicago’s waterways. With no natural predator in the Great Lakes region, the Asian carp—and its voracious appetite and capacity for rapid population growth—poses a threat to native plants and animals. The aggressive fish can grow up to 100 pounds and eat up to 20 percent of its body weight daily in plankton, the foundation of the aquatic food chain. For the past two years, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers had been investigating potential structural improvements to the city’s waterway system in order reduce the influx of Asian carp and other invasives. But now the Trump administration has delayed the release of its results indefinitely and without explanation.