Here at the Center we’ve always found joy in celebrating bipartisanship wherever we could find it.
Right now, that bipartisanship is on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan.
Hopefully, Asian carp are not.
What bipartisanship am I talking about? Well, the generally bipartisan outrage among members of Congress from Michigan, the governor, and the attorney general over the voracious carp and its threat to the billions of dollars in Great Lakes fisheries and tourism. Unfortunately, that outrage hasn’t yet solved the problem.
A few links as the carp threat grows…
CARP ACT: Congressman Dave Camp has legislation that would close the Chicago waterways until the problem is fixed.
CARP SUMMIT: No details yet on what they’ll do, but Great Lakes governors and the Obama Administration are set to gather in early February.
THE SUPREME COURT’S BEAT DOWN ON MICHIGAN’S ANTI-CARP PLEA: The NY Times analyzes how Illinois shipping interests won this week in convincing the Supremes that the carp are not an imminent threat worthy of closing Chicagoland shipping.
WAYNE STATE WATCHDOG NOAH HALL: This eagle-eyed law professor makes environmental law simple to everyday readers. He’s all over the Asian Carp issue.
ERIC SHARP FLIPS OFF THE SUPREMES: You gotta love the passion of the Freep’s mustachioed outdoors writer, Eric Sharp… “This is the latest link in a chain of ineptitude that began when the federal government allowed Southern fish farmers to bring the carp to the U.S. 40 years ago.”
THE FADING ANSWER: The Great Lakes Federation issued a report two years ago outlining how to separate the Great Lakes from the Mississippi drainage (and the carp). Maybe the Obama Administration and Army Corps of Engineers will read it before it’s too late (if it isn’t already too late)?
COMING TO A LAKE MICHIGAN BEACH NEAR YOU?
4 Comments
Some politicians must have a vested interest in not resolving this problem by installing an ecological barrier.
The Asian carp are very agitated by the sounds of boat engines. Michigan should sponsor a fleet of Asian carp harvesting boats to cruise down the ship canal and Mississippi, Ohio rivers. Make enough noise to get the carp to jump into boats and harvest them. Sell the fish to Asian restaurants or produce fertilizer.
Even the Center for Michigan could sponsor one or more boats.
First the country wants our water. Now if they can’t have it, send in the Carp. The bottom feeders may in the long run win out.
All i keep hearing on the news is a loss of some jobs and commerce if the canals are closed to Lake Michigan.
Where are the cold hard facts, that these fish dont…’crowd out’ native sport fish, they in fact obliterate all other fish species due to wiping out the bottom of the food chain.
Its insane how many Residents from All the great lakes states, on the coasts, and inland rivers/lakes/streams will be affected, then on top of that a whole nother entire country north of us, both of which have combined almost 100 Million people that will be affected, along with over $1trillion in commerce and revenue with entire industries/tourism/recreation shut down forever.
The Stupid carp are a natural disaster that the lakes and connected rivers cannot ever recover from.
Why are some shipping jobs in chicago using an illegally built canal, more important to a Republican led supreme court than the above guaranteed disaster losses?
In regards to the Asian carp, i have two questions:
1. Are the fish going to wait in the canal linking the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes while the idiots in Washington dilly-dally on what to do about it?
2. Since this has been known to have been a problem since the ’70s, why are our “leaders” only now doing anything about it?
I have NO faith whatsoever in Washington to fix any problem. It’s no wonder most of those people have made a career out of politics: they’re too stupid to have real jobs.