Is carp invasion a Taliban plot?

Articles following the carp drama ran in many major newspapers nationwide this week and have found some play overseas as well. But the most consistent and up-to-date coverage is provided by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Dan Egan and John Flesher of the Associated Press.

Carp watchers should keep an eye on the “Ongoing Coverage” section of the Journal-Sentinel’s Great Lakes, Great Peril special report.  Flesher’s most recent report on the financial implications of closing the locks can be found in today’s Los Angeles Times.

And don’t miss Great Lakes Echo’s attempt to resolve competing estimates of the value of the fishery at risk.

Michigan Now reporter Chris McCarus may have got the carp quote of the week from a retired steelworker speculating that the invasion may have been launched by the Taliban:

“Did you ever think it was a bin Laden plan? Nobody had ever thought of that. Them people don’t fight fair.”

As other number-crunchers figure out who would suffer more from the Asian carp — fisheries or commerce – the legal battles continue to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

This week, Indiana’s attorney general filed a brief to support Michigan’s call to close the Chicago locks. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has refiled his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to force the closure, citing potential devastation to the Great Lakes if the carp make it through the locks. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is backing Cox’s efforts.

Cox also found support from a slew of environmental groups also filing friend-of-the court briefs Friday, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes. All want to see the locks closed as soon as possible.

A decision whether to close the locks will come in 90 days, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week.

Meanwhile, biologists continue actually searching for the invader. While DNA from the two main carp species — Bighead and silver — has been found above an electric barrier between the Mississippi River and the Chicago canal system, an extensive fish kill only claimed one carp. No live carp has been found above the barrier so far.