Source:
Minnesota Trout Unlimited 
Sense of Urgency is Building on Asian Carp Issue At the second Asian carp summit convened by Governor Dayton on November 18, 2011 there was a clear sense of urgency among most people in the room. Perhaps most importantly, that sense of urgency was shared by Governor Dayton, as well as Senator Klobuchar. Minnesota Trout Unlimited was invited to participate in the summit along with several of the partners with whom we have been working on this issue for many months.
These are my overall impressions from the summit:
Governor Dayton clearly understands the urgency of the situation. He wants significant action, on multiple fronts, before the locks reopen on the Mississippi River in April 2012. The DNR received clear marching orders and the DNR’s lead, Tim Schlagenhaft, was delighted. Senator Klobuchar also demonstrated that she understands the urgency of the situation. She wisely counseled that Minnesota develop a “clear ask” of Congress and the Administration so that we get more timely federal cooperation and action. Governor Dayton agreed that we need to take action on several fronts at once, and we may need to employ methods that are not well tested since we do not have the luxury of time to thoroughly study them.
Next steps.
Governor Dayton directed the DNR to develop a prioritized list of actions within the next few weeks. MNTU has been invited to participate in that process. The Governor intends to convene a third meeting in December to settle on the priority actions to take. Developing the “clear ask” of Congress and the Administration is one outcome we hope will come out of the December 2011 meeting.
Minnesota’s Asian Carp Action Plan.
This fall the ad hoc task force led by the MNDNR and National Parks Service revised the action plan which it had been formulating for several months. It is now a very good draft Asian Carp Action Plan. Click to view the Asian Carp Action Plan . The coalition which we have been working with since May has been growing and we released a critique of the Action Plan which we discussed at the Governor’s summit on Nov. 18. Click to view the coalition’s Nov 18 2011 Letter to Dayton re Asian carp plan & summit.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited’s efforts to prevent the introduction and spread of AIS.
Minnesota Trout Unlimited has been working for many years to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species into Minnesota waters. For years our efforts focused primarily upon Lake Superior and the Great Lakes basin. This is not just because Lake Superior and the Great Lakes are perhaps the greatest single coldwater fishery in the country, but also because the Great Lakes shipping has been the major source of aquatic invasive species introductions impacting all Minnesota waters. Zebra mussels, round gobies, and the VHS virus are just some of the many invasive species brought to our shores via Great Lakes shipping activities.
For years we, and partners such as the Izaak Walton League, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and Clean Water Action, have fought for the adequate regulation of ballast water discharges from all Great Lakes shipping vessels. We continue fighting for adequate ballast water discharge standards, but ballast water is not the only source of AIS in the Great Lakes and Minnesota. Asian carp highlight the threat posed by aquaculture, especially via the Mississippi River.
Trout Unlimited recognized this threat several years ago (especially via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal) and has been advocating on several fronts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes basin. This spring we began working closely with a great group of partners focused on keeping Asian carp out of the upper Mississippi River basin as well. The work by Audubon Minnesota, Clean Water Action, Friends of the Mississippi River, the Izaak Walton League of America, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Minnesota Conservation Federation, Minnesota Trout Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation, is now being shared and expanded by the other partners who joined in the November 18 letter. Momentum is growing. We will not rest until our state, local and federal governments take significant action.
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Topic: Asian Carp Issue (Read 2308 times)
