Court won't close shipping locks to keep out carp

[undeterred]

Source: Washington Post

By JOHN FLESHER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 19, 2010; 10:56 AM

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order immediate closure of shipping locks near Chicago to prevent Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes. The court rejected a request by Michigan for a preliminary injunction to close the locks temporarily while a long-term solution is sought to the threatened invasion by the ravenous fish. The one-sentence ruling didn't explain the court's reasoning.

Asian carp, primarily bighead and silver varieties, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward the Great Lakes for decades. They have swarmed waterways near Chicago leading to Lake Michigan. Scientists fear that if they reach the lakes, they could disrupt the food chain and endanger the $7 billion fishery.

The biggest Asian carp can reach 4 feet in length and weigh 100 pounds while consuming up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, the foundation of the Great Lakes food web. Many scientists say they could starve out popular species such as trout and salmon. They also are spooked by passing motors and often hurtle from the water, colliding with boaters forcefully enough to break bones.

Officials poisoned a section of the canal in December after discovering genetic material that suggested at least some carp might have eluded an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and could be within six miles of Lake Michigan. If so, the only other obstacles between them and the lake are shipping locks and gates.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011901593.html

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"The one-sentence ruling didn't explain the court's reasoning."

Is that the best our Supreme Court can do? :shrug:

[Octafish]

1. 5-4?

What do they care? It's only the Great Lakes ecosystem at stake.

[MineralMan]

2. As I have said before, it is very, very likely that these carp

have already entered Lake Michigan. By the time people get all upset about an invasive species, it usually is already where they don't want it to go.

Closing the locks, if that is the case, will have no effect.

My prediction is that in late April or early May, some recreational angler will discover one or two dead ones while fishing. If that is the case, it's far too late to close this barn door.

[mopinko]

9. they have been caught

caught by angler, turned up in fish kills and found in drained lagoons.
for years around the city.
way too late

[undeterred]

13. Their DNA has been found in Calumet Harbor

which is part of Lake Michigan. Its too late to stop them completely, but they should still close the locks.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. No sense starting a new thread.

First Traces of Asian Carp Found in Waters of Lake Michigan - NYTimes.com

By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: January 19, 2010
CHICAGO — Genetic material from the Asian carp, a voracious invasive species long feared to be nearing the Great Lakes, has been identified for the first time at a harbor within Lake Michigan, near the Illinois-Indiana border, ecologists and federal officials said Tuesday.

A second DNA match was found in a river in Illinois within a half-mile of the lake, according to scientists at the University of Notre Dame who tested water samples and provided the results to officials last week.

Experts said the most recent findings, from Calumet Harbor and the Calumet River, could mean that the carp has found its way beyond an elaborate barrier system built at the cost of millions of dollars to prevent the fish’s access to the Great Lakes and its delicate ecosystem, where it has no natural competitors and would threaten the life of native fish populations.

“It’s a big admission of failure,” said Henry Henderson, the director of the Midwest program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It indicates the kind of thing we’ve been fearing since 1993.”

Barn door, horse, etc.

[Demeter]

3. Can't Expect Bastards to Change Their Spots

[xchrom]

4. What? They all had lunch dates? Nt

[hedgehog]

5. I say, be prepared:

http://www.bassonhook.com/fishforfood/carprecipes.html

[no_hypocrisy]

6. How long before it's too late to prevent permanent damage?

This was an urgent preliminary injunction. That doesn't preclude a move to enjoin on a non-emergency basis. I can't tell whether the 5-4 decision was based on the actual subject matter of closing the shipping locks or the emergency basis of the request.

[safeinOhio]

7. I call for no size or creel limit on

the U.S. Supreme Court.

[louis-t]

8. Say good-bye to the Great Lakes.

Republicans win again.

[WriteDown]

11. The fed govt is run by the repubs still? When is Bush's last term?

:shrug:

[louis-t]

12. It doesn't end. When it finished in the WH

they took it on the road.

[cognoscere]

10. It's ironic that the "Supreme Court" which is supreme in name only,

rarely does anything reasonable. Too bad they don't remember the "reasonable man" concept from their law school days. Even if they could, Fat Tony Scalia has all the reasoning ability of a sack of dog shit, and the other four clowns have their tongues so far up his ass, they can taste his morning coffee before he does.

[saigon68]

14. Fat Tony Scalia has all the reasoning ability of a sack of dog shit,

Actually he is a Sack of Dog Shit.

And his reasoning ability only extends to his ability to count the wrinkles on another dog's balls.

[undeterred]

15. I despair that a bunch of lawyers are going to be making

decisions that affect the ecology of whole planet. There's something very wrong here.

[AngryAmish]

17. Many, many people are way late to this fight

Fishermen in this area have been screaming about this for years. Sure, Hastert got us the electric barrier or two. But nobody did anything. We were ignored. We tried to get all the Great lakes politicians to pay attention. We were ignored. So, at the last minute, they try an end run to the Supreme Court to close the locks. Too late.

All of those in Michigan, Wisco, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio please realize - you fucked yourselves.