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Fears that giant, voracious species of carp will
get into the Great Lakes and wipe out other fish have led to rising
demands that the government close the waterway connecting the lakes
to the Mississippi River - an unprecedented step that could disrupt
the movement of millions of tons of iron ore, coal, grain and other
goods.


      The dispute could become an epic clash of competing interests:
commerce, environmentalists and fishermen.

      Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and five environmental groups
threatened on Wednesday to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
force it to temporarily shut three shipping locks near Chicago
because of evidence that Asian carp may have breached the
electrical barrier that is supposed to hold them back from the
lakes.

      The environmental groups went further than the governor and said
the Great Lakes and the Mississippi should be permanently separated
to avert what Granholm called "ecological disaster."

      Col. Vincent Quarles, commander of the Corps' Chicago district,
said the agency is considering all options but would not close the
locks without first studying the possible effects.


      Environmentalists fear that the fish, which consume up to 40
percent of their body weight daily in plankton, could starve out
smaller and less aggressive competitors and cause the collapse of
the $7 billion-a-year Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing
industry.

      The carp - which can grow to 4 feet long and 100 pounds and are
known for leaping out of the water when boats are near - were
imported by Southern fish farms but escaped into the Mississippi in
large numbers during flooding in the 1990s and have been making
their way northward ever since.


      The Mississippi and the Great Lakes are connected by a complex,
250-mile network of rivers and canals engineered more than a
century ago. It runs from Chicago, on the southern edge of Lake
Michigan, to a spot on the Mississippi just north of St. Louis.


      The American Waterways Operators, a trade association
representing the tug and barge industry, said closing the locks
would lead to higher shipping costs because commodities would have
to be sent overland via truck or train across Illinois before being
put back onto vessels.

      "The impact is going to be large," said Lynn Muench, the
group's senior vice president for regional advocacy in St. Louis.
"It could definitely impact day-to-day living."


      Tens of millions of tons of goods are moved annually along the
shipping canals or through the locks that lead into Lake Michigan.
Muench had no estimate of the value of the cargo, which includes
salt, sugar, molasses, cement, scrap metal and petroleum.

      In the continuing struggle to keep the fish out, Illinois
environmental officials planned to dump poison Wednesday night in a
nearly six-mile stretch of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near
Lockport to kill off the carp while the electrical barrier is
turned off for maintenance. Crews planned to use large cranes with
nets to scoop up an estimated 200,000 pounds of dead fish, which
will be taken to a landfill.

      The electrical barrier, which was installed in 2002 to repel
fish with a non-lethal jolt, has long been the only thing standing
between the carp and Lake Michigan, the gateway to the four other
lakes. But officials said two weeks ago that DNA from Asian carp
had been found between the barrier and one of the locks on the
lake. No actual carp have been found in Lake Michigan.


      Environmentalists and Granholm said the locks should be closed
while the scope of the problem is established.

      "This is an immediate threat to the Great Lakes, to our sport
and commercial fishery, and as such it requires some emergency
actions appropriate to the level of that threat," said Ken
DeBeaussaert, director of Michigan's Office of the Great Lakes.
"Closing the locks to prevent the possible spread of the Asian
carp into the Great Lakes is an appropriate response on an
emergency basis."

      The environmental groups also said the government should find a
way to permanently separate - through physical barriers or other
means - the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds so the invasive
species has no way of passing between the two.

      Last fall, environmental groups offered several possible
solutions, including erecting concrete walls, constructing more
locks, even lifting barges over the locks.


      The issue "takes on a whole new urgency because of the Asian
carp emergency," said Andy Buchsbaum of the National Wildlife
Federation. "We don't know where the carp are, and the risk of
their being in the canals is too great."

      Some fishing enthusiasts doubt the government will consider
closing the locks. Dan Thomas, president of the Elmhurst,
Ill.-based Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council, said too many
industries and too many jobs would probably be affected.

      "Ideally it's the way to go, but many things that are ideal
don't always come to fruition because there are too many other
circumstances," he said. "They can still be contained, but only
with concerted effort and a sense of urgency to do what is
necessary on a timely basis."

      Scientists say more than 180 invasive species have entered the
Great Lakes, multiplying rapidly and feeding on native species or
competing with them for food. Millions of dollars have been spent
trying to control the zebra mussel and the round goby fish, which
already have moved between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River
basins.


      John Flesher reported from Traverse City, Mich.
      

Gallery

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A conservation group says a planned fish kill near Lake Michigan may not be enough to keep harmful Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

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