New year holds great promise and great risk for Great Lakes
Illinois River silver carp jump out of the water after being disturbed by sounds of watercraft. Many fear that the Asian carp, which can reach 4 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds, will wreak havoc, not by attacking native fish, but starving them out by gobbling up plankton. Michigan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 21 to close shipping locks near Chicago to prevent the carp from invading the Great Lakes and endangering their $7 billion fishery.
AP photo
Or, will Lake Michigan be left open to an onslaught of fish that could decimate the Great Lakes and their tributaries?
The Supreme Court is set to take up the matter in early January thanks to a lawsuit filed by the state of Michigan. Michigan is asking the Supreme Court to order the State of Illinois and U.S. Corps of Engineers to shut the locks in the Chicago shipping canal that allow fish and boats access to the Great Lakes.
Michigan is also asking the court to order permanent separation of Lake Michigan from the Mississippi River basin and is challenging Chicago's withdrawal of up to 2 billion gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan.
Find out what is at stake and keep up to date as the fight to protect the Great Lakes progresses with Great Lakes on the Ground, the blog of Andy Buchsbaum, the Director of the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center.
Jennifer Janssen is a contributor from the Great Lakes Regional Center of the National Wildlife Federation. She writes about connecting with nature, supporting solutions to climate change and protecting the Great Lakes. She can be reached at janssenj@nwf.org.
Comments
Jennifer Janssen
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 3:10 p.m.
Thanks, Kristin! And for everyone who is worried about what 2010 will bring for the Great Lakes -- you can take action by sending a message to the US Corps of Engineers here: http://bit.ly/80qKBs Thanks for the addition, Edward -- Noah Hall's blog is another good resource in addition to Andy Buchsbaum's blog. And yes, Tru2Blu76, harvesting Asian carp is a good tool that we should be using. I think the issue there is a lack of market for Asian carp in the U.S., at least at present. Hopefully Americans can learn to love the taste of our invasive carp (which tastes much better, I hear, than other carp species). It could also be used for fish oil or fertilizer. Here is an article with more information about the potential for harvesting Asian carp in US waters -- http://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/Announcements/index.cfm?id=2940&pge_id=0&pge_prg_id=0 It says that there are two fisheries currently harvesting the carp in Illinois and that the industry is growing.
Kristin Johnson
Thu, Dec 31, 2009 : 10:21 a.m.
I'll be holding my breath for the Lakes in 2010. Great video and picture.