Asian Carp: 1, Great Lakes: 0
When the Supreme Court issued a decision earlier this morning to deny Michigan’s request to shut the locks in the Chicago shipping canal, the Illinois Attorney General, along with representatives from the shipping industry, breathed a hot and gusty sigh of relief. That sigh of relief inevitably turned into a debilitating blanket of lake-effect snow when it hit the wall of icy disappointment and frustration on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore.
Ah yes, Michigan getting dumped on again.
The U.S. Supreme Court has officially denied Michigan’s request for an injunction to shut the locks on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, in an emergency effort to keep asian carp out of Lake Michigan.
This disappointing news was delivered in the form of a single sentence: “The motion of Michigan for preliminary injunction is denied.” The highest court in the land did not expand on its decision; no explanation was given for what could potentially be a death blow for the Great Lakes fishing industry and ecosystems.
DNA evidence of the asian carp has been found within one mile of Lake Michigan, and experts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say the carp have the potential to completely devastate the Great Lakes ecosystem, as they are well suited to the colder lake temperatures and would face no natural predators. Already the carp account for 90 percent of the biomass in rivers where they have established populations. In short, they eat everything, leaving little for the native fish to munch on.
Those opposed to closing the locks argued that Michigan did not show evidence that the threat to the Great Lakes was imminent. Looking at what we know about the carp, as well as invasive species in general, we would say the threat is absolutely imminent. Reading the news about the Supreme Court’s decision today was like being caught in a disturbing vortex, where we are driven to make the same mistakes again and again – just like the sea lamprey, the round goby, the alewife, the zebra mussel, the spiny water flea, and every other invasive creature that has caused turmoil in the food chain and permanently altered the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. All of these creatures wreaked havoc on the lakes, and our delayed attempts to keep them under control proved to be extremely costly and destructive. If we do not take preventative measures, if we wait for the carp to move in and “see what happens”, we are letting a sad history repeat itself.
YES, closing the locks would have cost the shipping industry a couple million dollars, and forced them to come up with a shipping strategy that did not rely on the outdated and unmaintained Chicago shipping canal. But that price will come nowhere near to what it will cost Michigan, and all the other Great Lakes state INCLUDING Illinois, if we allow the carp to set up shop in the Great Lakes.
There is still a chance that the Supreme Court will consider Michigan’s case to permanently close the locks, but without the pressure of the immediate injunction, the decision could come too late to protect the lakes from the carp.
