Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis

Written by Andrew Reeves

Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

Politicians, ecologists, and government wildlife officials are fighting a desperate rearguard action to halt the onward reach of Asian Carp, four troublesome fish now within a handful of miles from entering Lake Michigan. From aquaculture farms in Arkansas to the bayous of Louisiana; from marshlands in Indiana to labs in Minnesota; and from the Illinois River to the streets of Chicago where the last line of defense has been laid to keep Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes, Overrun takes us on a firsthand journey into the heart of a crisis. Along the way, environmental journalist Andrew Reeves discovers that saving the Great Lakes is only half the challenge. The other is a radical scientific and political shift to rethink how we can bring back our degraded and ignored rivers and waterways and reconsider how we create equilibrium in a shrinking world.



With writing that is both urgent and wildly entertaining, Andrew Reeves traces the carp's explosive spread throughout North America from an unknown import meant to tackle invasive water weeds to a continental scourge that bulldozes through everything in its path.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977346926

Reviews for Overrun

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis is environmental journalist Andrew Reeves' in-depth look at just how the Asian Carp species that were brought into the United States to help solve one environmental issue ended up causing one of the biggest threats to the Great Lakes to date.  Reeves gets to the heart of the matter by going back to the beginning when the first carp were brought over as well as looking into what invasive species are as a whole and their impact on the environment. 

As an environmental scientist who lives on one of the Great Lakes, Overrun was of particular interest to me.  I do a lot of education on invasive species and wanted to learn more about these species of fish.  Overrun is a very comprehensive look at the Asian Carp crisis over time.  You do not need to be a scientist to understand the issue at all.  Reeves tells the story of these misunderstood fish through a series of interviews with those who have worked with the fish from the beginning, his own research and observations from the field.  I was very interested in exactly how the species of Asian Carp were brought to the US and was meant to be an ecologically friendly alternative to herbicides in order to clean up waterways. Unfortunately, after this step it seems like everything went wrong for the Asian Carp.  Reeves conducts intriguing interviews with those who were responsible for the first Asian Carp in the country, those dealing with their impacts and those trying to solve the crisis.   I also enjoyed his time in the field working with the fish and seeing the issues that they caused.  I was most amazed by just how resilient these fish are, it seems that everyone has underestimated them.  The money that has gone into these fish is astounding, because of this alone I can't believe that more people aren't interested in this issue.  In addition, their presence has seemed to create a domino effect of other issues in waterways and riparian ecosystems including environmental justice issues.  Overall, the Asian Carp crisis highlights human's relationship with water and nature and the unintended consequences of our actions.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

[1randal-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When will we ever learn?????
Humans have this short-sighted tendency to seek a quick fix, future consequences be damned. History is full of examples.
Well, we've done it again. In an effort to clean waters of "yucky" vegetation, we introduced the Asian carp into the southern U.S. With no natural predators, the carp, quite unsurprisingly, quickly overwhelmed the natural system. And spread, unchecked (and even encouraged), into the Mississippi River. First grass carp, then silver, black and bighead carp. In little more than a decade, they spread 2800 miles!
These fish eat all of the plant life in a water biosphere, leaving nothing for other fish. This is causing the disruption, and eventual extinction, of all other fish.
And talk about voracious! These carp can eat up to 20 percent of their body weight a day, and when you are talking about a fish that can reach 140 pounds, and 7 feet in length, that's a lot of eating!
And now the fight is on to prevent their entry into the Great Lakes. It's impossible to predict the damage they will inflict on those bodies of water's fish life. The cost is already running into the billions of dollars, with no end in sight. The future is grim.
And yet, Asian carp are just one of the disasters we (humans) have unleashed. Snakehead fish, pythons in the Everglases, even plants like kudzu are threatening our natural systems.
The author does an excellent job of presenting the problem, it's history, and possible cures. However, the entire book left me feeling somewhat depressed, as I see no way out of our self-inflicted disasters.

[nancyadair-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My brother, who enjoys kayaking, told me about a video showing a man in a boat who is armed with a baseball bat, ready to the strike giant leaping fish that fly out of the water. We may laugh, but the reality isn't funny. Those fish are foreign species from Asia. And they are taking over.

We Michiganders fear those fish as the next wave of invasive species ready to decimate our already degraded Great Lakes ecosystems. That crystal clear Lake Michigan water? It isn't a good sign, even if vacationers think its great. It is the sign of a dying lake, with already nothing much left for the fish to eat.

And Asian carp are really, really good at eating microscopic organisms, thus competing with native fish. Plus, their waste promotes the growth of toxic algae, already a problem in Lake Erie thanks to farm fertilizer runoff--and the destruction of the wetlands that used to filter the water.

If--or rather, when--the carp reach the Great Lakes, we expect a further decline in sport fish, boaters attacked by leaping fish, and an increase in water toxicity. Goodbye, recreational and fishing industries--and pure drinking water.

How and why bighead carp were introduced in 1955 and the consequences are presented in the highly readable Overrun.

Environmental journalist Andrew Reeves takes us on a journey, beginning with the first person to explore use of Asian carp as a natural and non-chemical way to control aquatic weeds, part of the reaction to Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring warning of the harm from pesticides.

I read Carson in the 1960s. I remember the first Earth Day. w I was a senior in high school when I bought a"Give Earth a Chance" pin. I took ecology in college. I learned organic gardening. Sure, I too would have supported a natural control over chemicals. I am all for anything to limit the chemical profusion that once seemed the panacea for all our ills before it was revealed as a source of new ills.

Asian carp, the aquatic-weed-eater par excellence, was introduced to clogged waterways in the South as a natural alternative to pesticides. It seemed like a great idea.

One thing we humans are good at is forgetting that when we tweak an ecosystem there are consequences. As the carp found their way into the environment the consequences became manifest. Like, competing with native species.

Reeves visited the people who think that we should sterilize the carp to limit their population, and the people who think barriers will keep the carp where we want them, and those who believe closing down the Chicago Canal will stop them, and the people who think that fishing the carp (and introducing them to the American dinner plate) will control their numbers. Reeves discovered that the political and environmental realities are so complex there is no easy answer.

There is no way we are going to stop the carp. Decisions made generations ago set up a domino effect that we can't stop.

Can we restore the Great Lakes--America's--ecosystems? If the will is there, perhaps a whole-ecosystem approach can make a difference.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.