Invasive Species: Asian Carp Get Their Day In Court

Posted by Bryan Walsh Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 3:44 pm

The dreaded Asian carp are back in the news today. The five Great Lakes states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Ohio—suing to beef up anti-carp defenses scored a legal victory yesterday:

On Monday, a federal judge held an initial hearing and scheduled more hearings for expert testimony in early September. The Michigan attorney general's office heralded the decision, since it will be the first time the case is heard on its merits. The Supreme Court earlier this year declined to take up the case.

The goal of the lawsuit is to force Chicago to shut down two locks except in cases of emergency, preventing Asian carp from using the canals to reach the Great Lakes. That plan has met with fierce resistance from barge and tour boat operators.

The decision doesn't meant that the plaintiff states—arrayed against the Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago—will get their way. There are powerful economic interests opposed to closing the Chicago canals, and the economic damage would likely be steep. But as we've written before, if the carp get loose and start to multiply in the Great Lakes—which is far from a sure thing—they could do some damage of their own. Hence the push for extreme measures:

John Selleck, a spokesman for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, says shutting the locks is a key step. “It's like knowing you live in a high-crime area and the front door is wide open,” he says.

(As a public service announcement, while politicians running for reelection—and occasional excitable journalists—like to write about the carp as if they're an invading, carnivorous horde, it should be noted that 0the filter-feeding fish pose a direct threat only to plankton and particularly unlucky boaters.)

We'll see whether this court case gets much further, but this piece is really just an excuse to post Jacob Templin's TIME video on the Redneck Fishing Tournament again. Enjoy:

http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/08/24/invasive-species-asian-carp-get-their-day-in-court/#ixzz0xc44P0Ct

Thieves 'using Google Earth to steal koi carp'

Thieves are using Google Earth to steal expensive koi carp from homeowners' ponds, police believe.

They are believed to be using Internet mapping systems to identify gardens with ponds so they can take the sought-after specimens.

Twelve thefts of the exotic fish and pond equipment, some of which are worth hundreds of pounds, have been reported over a three-week period across Hull, East Yorks.

Humberside Police Community Support Officer Sam Gregory said all the evidence suggests the culprits are using the Internet to seek out their targets.

Google Earth provides satellite photos detailed enough to see what is in people's back gardens.
PCSO Gregory said: "Google shows what is in your garden and you can see people's ponds.

"One of the properties targeted has an eight foot fence and is set back from the road.

"The pond is in the corner and can't be seen.

"Unless you were standing right next to the wall, you wouldn't be able to hear the running water."

Robert Barnes lost four koi carp and expensive lilies from his pond. The 65 year-old said: "They took the smaller fish, probably because they last longer out of the water.

"My neighbour later told me she had seen two young men with a bike with a box on it and a big black net."

Nigel Dawson, 40, woke up one morning to find his expensive filter system and 13 koi carp had been taken from his back garden.

He said: "I am devastated. I didn't see or hear anything."

A spokesperson for Google said the search engine was just one provider of such satellite images.
They said: "Google Earth is built from information that is available worldwide from a wide range of both commercial and public sources.

"As such, Google Earth creates no appreciable increase in security risks, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world.

"Criminals could use maps, phones and getaway cars but no one would argue that these technologies are responsible for the crime itself, that responsibility lies with the perpetrator."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/5673044/Thieves-using-Google-Earth-to-steal-koi-carp.html