We need to separate the Chicago canal system from the Great Lakes.

Carp found past barriers, but locks will stay open
Cox says he's exploring new legal action


BY TINA LAM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The first Asian carp found past electric barriers built to stop the fish from invading Lake Michigan will not lead to lock closures, federal and state officials in Illinois said Wednesday.

Officials said they found a bighead carp Tuesday that was nearly 3 feet long and weighed about 20 pounds in Lake Calumet, 6 miles from Lake Michigan in southeast Chicago. The fish, thought to be 3 to 4 years old, was caught live in a net by a commercial fisherman hired to scour the lake for Asian carp as part of an ongoing search-and-destroy mission. It was old enough to reproduce.

"Our worst fears have been realized," Attorney General Mike Cox said in a statement.

Cox filed lawsuits last year, along with other states, to close the locks at least temporarily, but the U.S. Supreme Court rejected lock closures and the lawsuit itself. Cox said he's exploring possible new legal action.

Several members of Congress called on President Barack Obama to order lock closures and take other aggressive measures to halt the progress of carp into the Great Lakes.

"This was so tragically predictable," said U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township.

She and others have raised concerns about the carp for years. "We were told we were overreacting," she said.

U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, sponsor of a bill that would immediately close locks, said, "The president stated there was a zero-tolerance policy in regards to invasive species like Asian carp. It's time he made good on that statement."