{"id":290109,"date":"2010-02-07T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T21:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.circleofblue.org\/waternews\/?p=11454"},"modified":"2010-02-07T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2010-02-07T21:07:08","slug":"asian-carp-threat-prompts-protest-near-lake-michigan-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/290109","title":{"rendered":"Asian Carp Threat Prompts Protest Near Lake Michigan Shore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fishing enthusiasts and state representatives rallied on the banks of Traverse City\u2019s Boardman River Saturday against Illinois’ opposition to the closure of Chicago-area locks.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Michigan<\/p>\n
Photo \u00a9 Steve Kellman<\/div>\n
Michigan representatives Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard), Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) and Dan Scripps (D-Leelanau), from left to right, and Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), not pictured, take turns speaking to a crowd of 100 people gathered in Traverse City, Mich., Saturday to protest inaction by Illinois and federal officials on the threat that Asian carp pose to the Great Lakes. The rally followed a similar one held in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Friday. Michigan House Democrats have launched a website in connection with the rallies\u2014noasiancarp.com<\/a>\u2014to collect signatures urging the immediate closure of Chicago-area waterways that could let the carp into Lake Michigan. A similar website\u2014stopasiancarp.com<\/a>\u2014is being promoted by Mike Cox, Michigan’s attorney general and a Republican gubernatorial candidate.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Steve Kellman
\nCircle of Blue<\/strong><\/p>\n

As owner of a Traverse City-based charter fishing company and captain for another local charter outfit, Steve Huston fears Asian carp invading Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n

Huston spent the past 33 years working in the charter and tournament fishing industry around northern Michigan. If the fish that have infested Chicago-area waterways get into the lake, he says he and his fellow charter captains will lose their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they do replace the sportfish, the salmon and the trout, we can\u2019t make a living,\u201d Huston said. \u201cIf they displace the small fish, the feeder fish, it\u2019ll end sportfishing in Lake Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fears about the invasive species lurking on the lake\u2019s threshold\u2014and anger over the failure of state and federal officials to stop the carp in their tracks\u2014prompted Huston and a hundred other people to brave 20-degree temperatures for a Saturday morning rally on the banks of the Boardman River. Several carried signs bearing slogans like \u201cClose Chicago Lock,\u201d \u201cCap the Carp\u201d and \u201cLock out the Carp\u2026 Not the Boaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in attendance were Michigan representatives Dan Scripps (D-Leelanau), Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) and Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard), who threatened the possibility of economic sanctions and a boycott of Chicago businesses if protective action isn\u2019t taken soon.<\/p>\n

The rally came two days before Great Lakes governors, including Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, are scheduled to be in Washington on Monday to talk to White House officials about the carp invasion and the threat to the regions fisheries and environment. <\/p>\n

The International Joint Commission, the bilateral agency overseeing Great Lakes policy, also is scheduled to convene its second public meeting on Asian Carp<\/a> in Ypsilanti, Michigan on February 17. <\/p>\n

Rep. Schmidt, who said he learned to fish on the Boardman River, noted that the pressure to close the locks is bipartisan and spans both state and national boundaries. Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, along with Ontario, Canada, have all announced their support of a legal effort by Mike Cox, Michigan\u2019s attorney general, to seal off the Great Lakes from the invasive species. The fish have already overrun portions of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, driving out game fish and upending ecosystems. They were originally imported to clean southern fish farms in the 1970s, but escaped into the rivers. The bighead variety of the fish can grow up to four feet long and weigh 100 pounds. Meanwhile the silver carp variety is known for jumping out of the water at the sound of boat motors, knocking people out of their boats and causing serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s protest comes three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Cox\u2019s motion to order an immediate closure of the locks that connect Lake Michigan with the carp-infested waters of the Chicago Waterway System. Cox filed a new Supreme Court motion<\/a> to close the locks Thursday, citing new evidence that carp may already have entered the lake as well as a study that has found Illinois\u2019 estimates of economic damages from closing the locks to be \u201cseriously exaggerated.” Cox, a Republican, is also running for governor.<\/p>\n

\"carp2-290\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Photo \u00a9 Steve Kellman<\/div>\n
Charter captain Jack Nowland, back, and friends arrive by boat for a Saturday morning rally on the shore of the Boardman River in Traverse City, Mich. Rally organizers including Michigan anglers and legislators are pressing Illinois officials to take immediate action to block the Asian carp that have infested Chicago-area waterways from entering the Great Lakes, where they could decimate the region’s $7 billion sportfishing industry and a recreational boating industry valued at $9 billion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Wearing a Big Kahuna Charters baseball cap and carrying a handmade placard that read \u201cNo Carp!\u201d, Huston said Saturday that he worries the effect of an Asian carp invasion will not be limited to sportfishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think alewives are a problem?\u201d he said, referring to the small fish that die by the millions each summer and foul Great Lakes beaches with their carcasses. \u201cJust wait until the Asian carp start dying off when they run out of food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Matuzak, captain of his own charter boat and guide service and president of the Grand Traverse Area Sport Fishing Association (GTASFA), took a break from ice fishing Saturday to attend the rally. He planned to head back out on the ice after the rally was over.<\/p>\n

Fishing is \u201ceverything to me,\u201d Matuzak said. \u201cI\u2019ve fished the entire state, all of its waters, all the way from Lake Superior down to Lake Erie and both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

GTASFA helped sponsor Saturday\u2019s rally, Matuzak said, and urged Michigan\u2019s attorney general to take legal action over the locks. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been involved in the push for this lawsuit probably since the first of November,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to make sure our voices are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Scripps, an environmental attorney, told Circle of Blue that he knows the sportfishing industry firsthand, having fished Lake Michigan with charter captains from Leelanau County\u2019s century-old Fishtown village. Scripps said that while on the campaign trail before his 2008 election, he often kept a fly rod and a set of waders in the back of his truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a long day of door knocking, there\u2019s nothing better than jumping in a stream and throwing a couple of lines in and hoping to find something coming back at you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Scripps added that the carp pose a threat to the region\u2019s entire recreational boating industry, not just the sportfishing industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to some of these rivers where the Asian carp already are, you just don\u2019t see boat traffic anymore\u2026 These are just silent rivers at this point because it\u2019s too dangerous to boat on them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to know that that could happen here unless we take action shows why we need to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scripps also agreed with Rep. McDowell\u2019s calls for more drastic action if Illinois officials don\u2019t act now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we need to ratchet up the pressure to get their attention, then we need to ratchet up the pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope it doesn\u2019t go that far, but we\u2019re talking about a tourism industry that it\u2019s hard to put a price tag on, a $9 billion boating industry, and $7 billion sportfishing industry\u2026 That\u2019s real money and real jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rally organizers took the occasion of Saturday\u2019s event to announce the launch of a new Web site, No Asian Carp<\/a>, where concerned residents can sign a petition urging Gov. Pat Quinn and other Illinois officials to close the locks. The site, which is being promoted by Michigan House Democrats, joins Stop Asian Carp – Protect Our Great Lakes<\/a>, a project of Attorney General Mike Cox, as a forum for concerned residents to sign a petition calling for immediate action to stop the carp\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care what petition you sign, frankly,\u201d Scripps told the crowd at Saturday\u2019s rally. \u201cWe need action, and we need it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Kellman is a reporter for Circle of Blue. Reach Steve at steve@circleofblue.org<\/em><\/p>\n

See previous Circle of Blue coverage: Asian Carp Knocking at the Great Lakes\u2019 Door; Michigan Attorney General Seeks To Slam It Shut<\/a>, Michigan Takes Asian Carp Fight Back To the Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: No Asian Carp<\/a>, Stop Asian Carp – Protect Our Great Lakes<\/a>, Northern Michigan Legislators Tell Illinois: Keep Your Carp!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fishing enthusiasts and state representatives rallied on the banks of Traverse City\u2019s Boardman River Saturday against Illinois’ opposition to the closure of Chicago-area locks. Photo \u00a9 Steve Kellman Michigan representatives Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard), Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) and Dan Scripps (D-Leelanau), from left to right, and Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City), not pictured, take turns speaking to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}