Wisconsin’s Attorney General is joining another legal battle to help keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Wisconsin is among five Great Lakes states that filed a lawsuit in US District Court Monday, which seeks to force the Army Corps of Engineers to block the movement of Asian carp through the Chicago Area Waterway System.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says the lawsuit calls for the closing of locks, addition of screens and netting to block movement, and poisoning areas where the carp is suspected to be present. It also calls for further study of permanently cutting off the Great Lakes from the Chicago Area Waterway System.
Van Hollen says this lawsuit is different from a failed attempt earlier this year to get the U.S. Supreme Court to grant an injunction closing Chicago waterways, largely because there’s more evidence to show Asian carp are getting closer. He says more eDNA has found showing the fish have gotten beyond locks and dams, along with the discovery of the carp in waters just six miles from Lake Michigan.
Van Hollen says delaying action much longer could put the entire economy of the Great Lakes region at risk. Experts worry that Asian carp could devastate the ecology of the Great Lakes, badly damaging the fishing industry.