PDA

View Full Version : The Asian Carp Crisis: Fed Intervention or Free Market Solutions?




clb09
02-09-2010, 05:43 AM
How could the free market solve this problem?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703630404575053931637941738.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5


Among the tactics in a $78.5 million, 25-point plan: Navigational locks in Illinois waterways that lead to Lake Michigan will be opened less frequently, and officials will more aggressively search for and kill the fish when they are found.

"We are going to hit the carp with all of the tools in the toolbox," said Cameron Davis, a senior adviser with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The plan was announced following a meeting between several environmental agencies and governors from Great Lakes states at the White House.

Asian carp were brought to Arkansas in the 1960s to clean up algae from sewers and fish hatcheries. After a flood, they escaped into the Mississippi River in the early 1990s and have been migrating north up Midwestern rivers ever since.

The fish are voracious eaters that can grow up to 4 feet long and weigh 100 pounds. They reproduce rapidly and can quickly displace native species. In stretches of the Illinois River they now account for as much as 90% of the fish population by weight. Scientists fear they could do the same in the Great Lakes, potentially destroying native species.

What's more, the fish have the habit of leaping up to eight feet out of the water at the sound of approaching motors. They have knocked boaters unconscious and broken their bones. Some people now cruise along parts of the Illinois River wearing football helmets for protection.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/dennis-byrne-barbershop/assets_c/2010/01/carp-thumb-560x338-56351.jpghttp://www.indianawaterways.com/Asian%20Carp.jpg