Experts are set to testify in a federal lawsuit in Chicago, where five states are asking a judge to close Illinois shipping locks to prevent Asian carp from overrunning the Great Lakes.
In two days of hearings starting Tuesday, scientists will discuss environmental DNA testing that found genetic material from carp in Illinois waterways near Lake Michigan.
Biologists fear if the ravenous fish get into the Great Lakes they'll decimate a $7 billion-a-year fishing industry.
Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania sued to temporarily close the O'Brien and Chicago locks. They also want barriers installed to stop the fish.
The barge industry and others say closing the locks would be a major blow to their businesses.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians filed a motion Tuesday to join Michigan and the Great Lakes states in a lawsuit regarding the concern of Asian Carp. It's the first motion by a tribe to join the litigation.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed the lawsuit July 19, 2010. Attorneys general from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Ohio joined Cox in his lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the Army Corps' isn't doing enough to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. A Federal judge scheduled the first hearing on the lawsuit with live testimony taking place in Chicago Tuesday, Sept. 7 and Wednesday, Sept. 8.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians filed a motion to join Michigan and the Great Lakes states as an intervening plaintiff.
A portion of the Brief filed by the Tribe is below:
Historically, fishing played a central role in the spiritual and cultural framework of Native American life. As the Supreme Court noted more than a hundred years ago, access to fish and wildlife was "not much less necessary to the existence of the Indians than the atmosphere they breathed." United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371, 381 (1905). Not only are the Great Lakes fish culturally important to the Tribes, these communities depend upon fisheries resources for their livelihoods. Moreover, by virtue of the supremacy clause (Article VI, clause 2) of the Constitution, Indian Tribes have a property right in treaty-reserved fishery resources that is paramount to the other economic interests cited by Defendants in defense of the relief requested by Plaintiffs. See Grand Case: 1:10-cv-04457 Document #: 122-7 Filed: 08/31/10 Page 1 of 6 PageID #:4813
More details on the lawsuit from the Michigan Attorney Generals Office can be found by clicking on THIS LINK.
