TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Obama administration’s promise Tuesday to quicken its search for a way to shield the Great Lakes from Asian carp and other invasive species - once and for all - is more a baby step than a giant leap toward a solution that could be in the works for years or even decades.
By then it will be much too late.
Under intense pressure to accelerate the process, the Army Corps of Engineers said by the end of next year it would release a short list of methods for preventing organisms from migrating between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. Congress and the public could decide which is preferred.
Previously, the corps had insisted it would need until late 2015 to
recommend a permanent fix - a timetable challenged by five states in a
federal lawsuit and legislation proposed in Congress. Critics say faster
action is needed as the huge, aggressive carp that have infested the
Mississippi River and many of its tributaries bear down on the lakes,
where they would gobble up food needed by native species and further
disrupt ailing ecosystems.
Environmental activists and many elected officials say the only certain solution is physically separating the two giant drainage basins by placing dams or other structures at key points in Chicago-area waterways that form a direct link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi.
Supporters of separation said the corps should immediately endorse the idea instead of continuing the study.
Thom Cmar, an attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, dismissed the announcement as “a total nonevent.’’
Darcy said basin separation is among options under consideration, but the corps has a congressional mandate to consider other possibilities. Scientists and engineers are experimenting with dozens of methods, from chemicals that would lure Asian carp into traps or prevent them from reproducing to annoying the fish with lights or noise.
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Related: The Boston Globe's Carp Conspiracy
Attorneys Generals’ Carping Campaign
Supreme Court Closes Carp Case
"Pacific reef shark populations fall 90%" Washington Post" April 30, 2012
WASHINGTON - Pacific reef shark populations have plummeted by 90 percent or more over the past several decades, according to a new study by a team of American and Canadian researchers, and much of this decline stems from human fishing pressure.
Related: Shark Fin Soup For Supper
The analysis, published last week by the journal Conservation Biology, quantifies the decline for the first time.
Well, when you are a food source....
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