Opponents slam U.S. Asian carp plan

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Some opponents of a proposed federal plan to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan said Friday the plan went too far while others said it does not go far enough.

The plan, aired in a three-hour public meeting, calls for building barriers intended to stop the invading species while keeping barge traffic moving in the Chicago canal system, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Saturday.

A controversial element of the plan would close two navigation locks on certain days to shut off the last pathway for the giant leaping fish to enter the lake. Officials said they would examine the possibility of permanently cutting the canal system off from the lake, the newspaper said.

Business operators who use the canal said even occasional shutdowns would be too much.

"We sell the Chicago skyline, that's what we do, and we can't do it if we're not out on the lake," Mike McElroy of Mercury Sightseeing Boats said.

Mercury takes tourists along the Chicago River and through the locks, he said.

Some say the plan doesn't go far enough.

"I am not moved that this is a solution at all," Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement. "If this course of action is to be followed, there is little to stop the certain infestation and ruination of the Great Lakes by Asian carp. Further study and open locks is unacceptable."