Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve System as the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Hudson River is navigable by large steamers up to Troy, and by ocean-faring vessels to the Port of Albany. The original Erie Canal, opened in 1825 to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie, emptied into the Hudson at the Albany Basin, just south of the Federal Dam in Troy (at mile 134). The canal enabled shipping between cities on the Great Lakes and Europe via the Atlantic Ocean. The New York State Canal System, the successor to the Erie Canal, runs into the Hudson River north of
Asian carp introduced. The United States Environmental Protection Agency is also concerned about the possibility of Asian carp migrating to the Great Lakes. In 2002, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed an electric fish barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the only navigable aquatic link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River drainage basins. The initial fish barrier was used as a demonstration project to study the design's effectiveness. Following positive results, construction began on a second, permanent barrier in 2004. In addition to the canal, the corps has identified 19 sites in five additional states, from Minnesota