The New York Attorney General has joined Michigan in the fight against Asian carp and for the safety of the Great Lakes. Andrew Cuomo says he’ll file a brief in U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to support Michigan’s request to sever a century-old Chicago canal that connects Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River water basin.
Many of Chicago’s neighbors including Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio support the closing of the canal for the sake of the ecosystem and Michigan fishing. The Asian carp, which can grow to be 100 pounds can consume a great deal of Great Lakes plankton, the base of the ecosystem. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller issued a brief to the Supreme Court in support of the lawsuit issued by Michigan attorney general Mike Cox.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago have failed to halt the invasion of the Asian carp that threatens the freshwater ecosystem supporting one of the greatest fishing bodies of water on earth; and so legal action is unfortunately necessary,” Zoeller told the Northwest Indiana Times.
Last month, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District spokeswoman Jill Horist called the lawsuit “unfortunate,” and said it won’t bring a solution any sooner.
Horist claims that even if the locks to the canal were closed, that there are plenty of ways for the Asian carp as well as DNA to get through to the great lakes. Asian carp and silver carp which were brought over from Asia have been migrating north for the last few years and have recently been found in waterways that share access with the Great Lakes. The species reaching the Great Lakes could potentially devastate the ecosystem and ruin the business of Michigan fishing.
Officials poisoned a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in early December to prevent the carp from getting closer to Lake Michigan while an electrical barrier was taken down for maintenance.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has said that closing the canal would not prevent the carp from migrating.
The future Michigan fishing and other Great Lakes fishing may be put in jeopardy, and what is becoming the biggest story this season for fishing continues to rage on.
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