Is carp invasion a Taliban plot?

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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?

Echo

Governors await date to discuss Asian carp

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – Great Lakes governors should learn this week when and where the Obama Administration plans to meet with them to address the Asian carp crisis.  

Nancy Sutley, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a letter Wednesday to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle that she wants to convene a summit the first week of February in either the Great Lakes region or in Washington. More

Echo

Cox launches Web site on carp issues

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – Attorney General Mike Cox has started www.stopasiancarp.com, a Web site urging Great Lakes residents to demand action against Asian carp. The site features reports and video about carp and a petition to Congress and President Barack Obama calling for the immediate closure of Chicago-area locks. More

Echo

President misses the boat on Asian carp danger

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(OH) Toledo Blade – Imagine a terrorist heading toward your community. Not a disgruntled Nigerian with possible ties to al-Qaeda, mind you. But a hyperactive, monster fish from Asia armed with a voracious appetite and the ability to wipe out a Great Lakes fishery valued at $7 billion.  
It’s an especially frightful scenario for Ohio and Michigan, two states looking to the sportfishing industry for help in recovering from economic ruin with more recreation and tourism. More

Echo

Asian carp: Take that carp and fry it

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – Asian carp may indeed be poised to destroy commercial fishing as we know it in the Great Lakes, but Reggie McLeod likes his smoked or pickled. The Vietnamese community cooks carp in coconut milk with lemon grass and chili peppers. The Polish like to draw out the pungent fishy odor by soaking it in milk and onions. More

Echo

Coast Guard Tightens Curbs on Chicago Canal Traffic

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(IL) Journal of Commerce – The escalating fight to prevent Asian carp from getting out of a Chicago barge and ship canal into the Great Lakes now has the Coast Guard ordering a year-long regulated zone while the Army Corps of Engineers heats up an electrical barrier. The Coast Guard, through a Jan. 6 notice in the Federal Register, said it was ordering a series of water-handling and operational restrictions on barge tows and other commercial as well as passenger vessels transiting the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. More

Echo

Minnesota joins suit to stop Great Lakes carp invasion

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(MN) The Minnesota Independent – Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has added Minnesota’s support to a lawsuit by the state of Michigan against the state of Illinois to force the closure of a canal connecting the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Unless the canal is closed, Asian carp will make their way into the Great Lakes and eventually Minnesota inland lakes, rivers and stream. The lawsuit will be heard by the U.S. States Supreme Court on Thursday. “If they invade the Great Lakes, they will have access to the rivers and tributaries that feed into the Great Lakes, thereby threatening inland waters,” Swanson said in a brief to the high court. “This would be extremely destructive to Minnesota’s economy and way of life, where inland fishing is an important recreational and economic pursuit.

Echo

Wisconsin joins legal battle to stop spread of giant carp

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Wisconsin has entered the multi-state battle against Illinois and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop an Asian carp invasion of the Great Lakes. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of Michigan’s recent motion to force the state of Illinois and the federal government to shut down a couple of navigational locks that provide an artificial link between Lake Michigan and the adjacent carp-infested waters of the Mississippi River basin. More

Echo

Carp hold edge over Mr. Cox

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(MI) The Detroit News – The Fantastic Mr. Cox is waging political war against the Asian carp. He’ll need the wind at his back. My worry is that his strategy is more likely to create high farce than permanent fish kill. On Monday, the attorney general announced he was taking his case against the carp all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping that the scales of justice will tilt against big fish and the state of Illinois. So far, though, the fearsome fish of many adjectives (“invasive” “omnivorous” “aggressive” are regulars) have eluded all of the manmade impediments placed in their paths, including an expensive electrical barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.