U.S. Supreme Court Wades into Great Lakes Carp Controversy
Friday, January 8, 2010
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to address filings today to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Minnesota's attorney general recently joined a lawsuit filed by the State of Michigan, arguing the carp threaten the states' commercial and recreational fishing industries. Michigan has requested an injunction to close a Chicago canal that connects Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River basin - a move opposed by the Obama administration.
Scott Strand, executive director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), applauds the effort and says Asian carp represent a great threat to Lake Superior and the Great Lakes economy.
"Once they get into a watershed, they take over the food supply. The regular fish that are in Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and the other Great Lakes would not be able to compete with a substantial carp population for food. They would essentially die off."
The five Great Lakes support hundreds of native fish and wildlife species and generate billions of dollars of economic activity each year, but shipping interests in Illinois are responding that such a move would be a killer for the Midwest economy.
Still, two other large industries - commercial and recreational fishing - are being threatened by one big fish, says Strand.
"The locks need to seal the shipping channel until a proposal or suitable solution can be found; one that would be at least as effective at keeping the carp out and still allow some kind of shipping industry to continue through that particular channel."
The carp were intentionally introduced to fish farms in the lower Mississippi River in the 1970's and have been swimming north ever since.
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