Invasive Asian carp competition nets $500K in prizes for innovators

A bubbly barrier bothersome to invasive Asian carp, proposed by a software consultant at Harvard Medical School, earned Gov. Rick Snyder's top prize at a "Carp Tank" competition held Tuesday at the Port Authority in Detroit.

Innovators were invited to share ideas on how to stop the carp, which are making their way up the Mississippi and Des Plaines rivers in Illinois toward Lake Michigan, and are now only about 50 miles away from the Great Lake. Scientists are concerned that the voracious fish would out-compete native and desired Great Lakes fish species, causing an ecological and economic calamity.

Edem Tsikata was awarded $200,000 in Tuesday's competition before a panel of judges and a live audience. His proposed cavitation barrier would use a row of specially designed propellers to generate a wall of bubbles which, along with the noise of the propellers, would repel fish and deter their passage beyond the bubble barrier.

More: Invasive Asian carp less than 50 miles from Lake Michigan

More: Congress set to save Great Lakes funds, community block grants

"I applaud the innovative solutions these finalists presented today, and congratulate Edem Tsikata for winning the challenge," Snyder said in a statement. "Blocking Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes is critical, and Michigan can't afford to wait any longer."

Tsikata was one of four finalists invited to present at Tuesday's competition. Judges assessed each proposal based on its potential effectiveness, feasibility, environmental and human impacts, and level of innovation.

"It was thrilling to be associated with a project benefiting Michigan and the Great Lakes," Tsikata said in a statement. "It's gratifying to contribute ideas that benefit the economy and ecology of this region, even though I live in Boston."

The Carp Tank competition was the culmination of the Great Lakes Invasive Carp Challenge, which invited innovators worldwide to develop methods to prevent the invasive bighead and silver carp from reaching the Great Lakes. Snyder announced the challenge in February 2017 and solutions were accepted through the crowdsourcing site InnoCentive's Challenge Center from August through October of last year.

Earning second place and $125,000 was David Hamilton, senior policy director for the Lansing-based environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy. His "AIS Lock Treatment System" would serve as locks on the river. As vessels moored in a gated chamber, a carefully measured amount of chlorine, lethal to a wide range of aquatic organisms, including Asian carp, would be injected and mixed into the chamber's waters. Following treatment, sodium bisulfate would be used to detoxify the water before it was released back into the river.

Michael Scurlock, a hydraulic engineer with RiverRestoration in Carbondale, Colo., took third place and $100,000 for adjustable, physical velocity barriers designed to concentrate water flow in a lock system after vessels are moored, creating a current the carp cannot swim against, and essentially flushing the system before the lock gates are closed.

In fourth place, earning $75,000 was D.J. Lee of Smart Vision Works International in Orem, Utah. Lee, who's also a professor and director of the Robotics Vision Laboratory at Brigham Young University, came up with a solution involving directing all fish through an automated imaging and sorting system that uses unique recognition software to divert invasive carp to a holding area for harvest.

The money for the Carp Challenge prizes was allocated from the general fund in the fiscal year 2017 budget, Snyder spokeswoman Jordan Kennedy said.

The ideas proposed will now be carried forward, said Tammy Newcomb, Michigan Department of Natural Resources senior water policy advisor and fisheries research biologist.

"Michigan DNR will continue to work with the solvers to help find interested parties to further their design ideas," she said. "We will request a meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies to further review the work that was proposed here today to see if any of the solutions could provide an alternative or an addition to any of the technologies currently employed or proposed for Brandon Road Lock," one of the last remaining barriers to Asian carp before Lake Michigan.

"It is encouraging to us that several individuals have already reached out to us and asked to be put in contact with the solvers for further conversations about potential next steps."

To learn more about Michigan's efforts to block Asian carp, visit blockasiancarp.org.

Contact Keith Matheny: (313) 222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.