Photo: PBSL'état de l'Illinois veut garder le canal qui relie la rivière Illinois au Lac Michigan ouvert pour faciliter l'évacuation des eaux usées et le commerce naval qui trouve ses clients dans le bassin versant du Mississippi. On estime que le commerce vaut des dixaines de millions de dollars et quelques milles emplois.
Mais l'invasion de la carpe asiatique (carpe à grosse tête et carpe argentée), une espèce invasive qui menace d'envahir les Grands Lacs pourrait tout bouffer la nourriture des espèces indigènes, la base d'une industrie de pêche qui rapporte $7 milliards par année.
Un choix qui semble évident, même si le seul facteur économique est mis dans la balance. Mais on hésite encore à prendre la décision qui s'impose.
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"Tough choices follow in wake of invasive species
Which is worse? Closing two locks on a waterway that's used to ship millions of dollars' worth of goods from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin? Or allowing a voracious Asian carp to deplete the food supply of native fish sustaining a Midwestern fishing industry that nets $7 billion a year?
The dispute has spurred competing economic analyses. Illinois, which uses the canal system to move wastewater as well as to ship a slew of commercial goods, argued in its recent Supreme Court brief that closing locks would "have a devastating effect" on the region's economy and hamper boat rescue operations. And the American Waterways Operators, the trade association for the nation's tugboat, towboat and barge industry, estimates that closing the Mississippi locks to Lake Michigan would cost suppliers tens of millions of dollars and perhaps thousands of jobs.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who has led the legal battle to close the locks, said those numbers look modest compared with the potential collapse of the Great Lakes' $7 billion annual fishery. In his Supreme Court brief, he noted that the Army Corps stated in a report, "The prevention of an interbasin transfer of bighead and silver carp from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan is paramount in avoiding ecologic and economic disaster."
Excerpts of article written by Juliet Eilperin published in The Washington Post here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013000939.html
Les coûts économiques causés par la fermeture du canal pour couper le chemin à la carpe asiatique sont beaucoup plus élevés dans une nouvelle étude payée par l'Illinois. L'étude payée par l'état du Michigan voyait moins de désavantages économiques.
ReplyDeleteL'étude faite par un professeur de l'université DePaul évalue les coûts économiques à $4,7 milliards: on regarde les désavantages économiques sur le commerce maritime de la région de Chicago, la navigation touristique, la gérance des eaux pluviales et les autres commerces liés directement et indirectement à la voie navigable de la rivière.
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Price tag of closing locks to Asian carp: $4.7 billion, new study says
Illinois-commissioned study sees much more economic damage than Michigan-backed study
A study released Wednesday by a DePaul University professor projects a $4.7 billion economic blow to the Chicago region over the next 20 years if navigational shipping locks close to prevent movement of Asian carp, a figure far exceeding an earlier study that minimized the financial impact.
The six-week study, commissioned by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, attempted to examine the "true cost" to the Chicago-area cargo shipping industry, recreational boaters, river tourism, storm water management and other businesses directly and indirectly tied to the river system.
Excerpts from article here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-0408-asian-carp-study-20100407,0,1465884.story