Researchers in La Crosse say pesticides can protect Mississippi River from invasive species

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Researchers in La Crosse say there are two pesticides that could fight off an invasive species before it gets to the Mississippi River.

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center is looking for ways to kill off the round goby. They've narrowed down their possibilities to the pesticides antimycin and bayluscide.

Chief Researcher Theresa Schreier says both chemicals can released at a river bottom to ward off the round goby, without hurting native species.

The goby is closing in on the Mississippi basin from the Illinois River. Like other invasive species, the goby competes with native fish for food-and-such, thus threatening the commercial and sport fishing industries.

The La Crosse unit, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, plans to test the pesticides in the field.

The latest findings were published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Tags: outdoor, invasive, species