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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – With marauding Asian carp on the Great Lakes' doorstep, the federal government has crafted a $78.5 million battle plan that offers no assurance of thwarting an invasion and doesn't use the most promising weapon available to fight it off.

The surest way to prevent the huge, hungry carp from gaining a foothold in the lakes and threatening their $7 billion fishing industry is to sever the link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River basin, created by engineers in Chicago more than a century ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_asian_carp_great_lakes

Good luck goes out to the GOVT. on this one.

I got $100.00 that says that they fuck this one all up.

Oh yeah, but that won't stop them from pouring money into the blackhole that is their "splitting-the-baby" solution....

Appaholic wrote:Oh yeah, but that won't stop them from pouring money into the blackhole that is their "splitting-the-baby" solution....

I am not sure how much a few big ass solid steel gates cost, but I can bet it ain't no 78.5 million bucks. Put them in and be done with it. Apparently simple and cheap are not ever in the US Govt. vocabulary.

The economic cost of closing the canals would be enoromous.

dbackjon wrote:The economic cost of closing the canals would be enoromous.

So could losing the Great Lakes Fishing & Recreation Industry...

dbackjon wrote:The economic cost of closing the canals would be enoromous.

Just transfer the goods over land and back onto ship once it hits the Great Lakes......or what would happen if the fishing industry of the Great Lakes goes belly up...would that not be enoromous?

dbackjon wrote:The economic cost of closing the canals would be enoromous.

Oh. I gots ya. You would rather pay much more later than now. Got it.

Not advocating NOT severing the link. In the end, that is the right solution.

But either way, the economic costs will be enormous.

We also need to address HOW they got here in the first place - in ship bilges, release of exotic animals.

Both need a lot more attention, to prevent future invasive species.

dbackjon wrote:Not advocating NOT severing the link. In the end, that is the right solution.

But either way, the economic costs will be enormous.

We also need to address HOW they got here in the first place - in ship bilges, release of exotic animals.

Both need a lot more attention, to prevent future invasive species.

Agree....kind of hard to put the genie back in the bottle...

dbackjon wrote:Not advocating NOT severing the link. In the end, that is the right solution.

But either way, the economic costs will be enormous.

We also need to address HOW they got here in the first place - in ship bilges, release of exotic animals.

Both need a lot more attention, to prevent future invasive species.

They got there from a few ponds that some private folks had for their own private sport fishing. Then they got released into a few water ways and now....we got this. They grow fast and eat everything. They also can survive short periods out of the water and can kind of hop from one body of water to another...provided they are fairly close and flat.

So, would you rather pay now and get some much needed jobs by getting and putting into place a system of removing cargo from barges and onto rail and then moving it to another place and transporting it onto ships in the great lakes?..... or do nothing now but spend 78 million bucks and then spend much much more later AFTER the Great Lakes are contaminated and the fishing industry is gone?

I would like the sooner rather than later approach.

Or here is an even better solution for ya dbackjon. We could take that 78.5 million and NOT SPEND IT. Just not do anything! That way we are saving lots of much needed money right now.

Great Idea HUH?!

Maybe Americans and Canadians should begins to develop an appetite for carp.

ASUG8 wrote:Maybe Americans and Canadians should begins to develop an appetite for carp.

That would be wrong, right dback? Shouldn't the US GOVT. support every effort to bring this poor species in with open arms? That way the carp can have a good life. They are now a native species, right....by your standards at least.

They are known to be a delicacy in the deep, deep south.

I seriously doubt any attempts by human hands is going to stop their advance, our country is over run with invasive and exotic plants, animals, and birds. Just look out your window right now, odds are an invasive something or other is likely in plain view.

It seems obvious that this is all a result of global warming and all blame should be laid squarely at the feet of one of those evil Bush guys.

In the end, the only rational solution is to label them a protected species and then feed them to the spotted owls!

Woof wrote:It seems obvious that this is all a result of global warming and all blame should be laid squarely at the feet of one of those evil Bush guys.

In the end, the only rational solution is to label them a protected species and then feed them to the spotted owls!

Them spotted owls are birds, and dbackjon wouldn't allow that to happen.

Wedgebuster wrote:They are known to be a delicacy in the deep, deep south.

I seriously doubt any attempts by human hands is going to stop their advance, our country is over run with invasive and exotic plants, animals, and birds. Just look out your window right now, odds are an invasive something or other is likely in plain view.

English effin' Ivy.

SeattleGriz wrote:

Wedgebuster wrote:They are known to be a delicacy in the deep, deep south.

I seriously doubt any attempts by human hands is going to stop their advance, our country is over run with invasive and exotic plants, animals, and birds. Just look out your window right now, odds are an invasive something or other is likely in plain view.

English effin' Ivy.

English sparrows, and in our country, Russian Olive, and Salt Cedar. Next on our agenda are zebra mussles, and of course we all have German carp. The list is endless.

Oh man. The animals are more organized than I thought. This is proof they are in cahoots with the Canadians. They are spying on us and they've brought the Asians into the mix. I knew it was bad but I had NO idea it was this bad. This is not good. Not good. The next attack will be in the SouthWest and/or West coast. Don't say I didn't warn you.

grizzaholic wrote:

dbackjon wrote:Not advocating NOT severing the link. In the end, that is the right solution.

But either way, the economic costs will be enormous.

We also need to address HOW they got here in the first place - in ship bilges, release of exotic animals.

Both need a lot more attention, to prevent future invasive species.

They got there from a few ponds that some private folks had for their own private sport fishing. Then they got released into a few water ways and now....we got this. They grow fast and eat everything. They also can survive short periods out of the water and can kind of hop from one body of water to another...provided they are fairly close and flat.

So, would you rather pay now and get some much needed jobs by getting and putting into place a system of removing cargo from barges and onto rail and then moving it to another place and transporting it onto ships in the great lakes?..... or do nothing now but spend 78 million bucks and then spend much much more later AFTER the Great Lakes are contaminated and the fishing industry is gone?

I would like the sooner rather than later approach.

What is to stop people from releasing them to the Great Lakes, if they haven't already done so. We could shut down the canals and still lose the Great Lakes Fishing Industry.

BlueHen86 wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:
They got there from a few ponds that some private folks had for their own private sport fishing. Then they got released into a few water ways and now....we got this. They grow fast and eat everything. They also can survive short periods out of the water and can kind of hop from one body of water to another...provided they are fairly close and flat.

So, would you rather pay now and get some much needed jobs by getting and putting into place a system of removing cargo from barges and onto rail and then moving it to another place and transporting it onto ships in the great lakes?..... or do nothing now but spend 78 million bucks and then spend much much more later AFTER the Great Lakes are contaminated and the fishing industry is gone?

I would like the sooner rather than later approach.

What is to stop people from releasing them to the Great Lakes, if they haven't already done so. We could shut down the canals and still lose the Great Lakes Fishing Industry.

You can't stop every possibility but you sure can limit the natural chance that they make it to the Great Lakes.

I would like to at least say the US gave the Lakes a fighting chance rather than just concede.

I'm guessing that scientists somewhere could gin up some giant parasitic wasps that would take care of this carp problem once they're released into the wild...

Just another "illegal Immigrant" that needs some amnesty on Hussein Obamas watch...

This guy is a fu*king joke on a such a scale that Africa is laughing at us. He is by FAR the most embarrassing president in the last 100 years. The entire world is laughing at us because this undocumented worker took over and is trying to ram socialism down our throats.

dbackjon wrote:Both need a lot more attention, to prevent future invasive species.

Wedgebuster wrote:Tour country is over run with invasive and exotic plants, animals, and birds. Just look out your window right now, odds are an invasive something or other is likely in plain view.

Humans are the most invasive species of all.