07/20/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Springfield, IL – In another attempt to gain tougher federal and municipal action to prevent Asian carp from taking over the Great Lakes, five states filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in northern Illinois on Monday, July 19, 2010, as reported by NPR and BBC News.
Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania filed a suit complaining the situation has worsened and may lead to the demise of the lakes’ native species, including salmon.
Last month, a live bighead carp was found in a Chicago-area waterway approximately six miles from Lake Michigan, well on the wrong side of the electronic barriers that were designed to contain the fish.
The lawsuit asks the US Army Corps of Engineers to use nets to stop the carp from entering Lake Michigan. It also pleads for a study to be conducted on whether the Great Lakes can be separated from the Mississippi River and seeks to close Chicago shipping gates and locks on the belief they may be the path of entrance for the invasive fish.
While the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected previous lawsuits requesting government intervention, the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the suit and plans to file a response later. The Chicago water district is also overlooking the suit.
Asian carp were imported to southern fish farms and sewage lagoons in the early 1970s. They somehow escaped into the Mississippi and have been migrating north since.
They are bountiful, aggressive and have no natural predators. They also pose safety hazards to boaters, as they have a habit of leaping from the water at the sound of vibrating engines.
The Army Corps previously refused to close shipping locks and gates from the Mississippi, claiming there is no guarantee the action would keep the carp out of the lake. Closing the ports will also prove detrimental to industries that rely on the shipping locks for movement.
While the Obama administration outlined a $78.5 million anti-carp strategy in February that focused on technological solutions, such as the electric barrier, and fish poison, the lawsuit states those measures are not enough.
A Republican candidate for governor described the sentiments of many, stating, “President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers have failed to fight Asian carp aggressively…Asian carp will kill jobs and ruin our way of life.”
YouTube video provided by CBS.
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