LANSING, Mich. (AP) The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday not to get involved in a dispute over how to prevent invasive Asian carp from making their way into the Great Lakes.

The justices turned down a new request from Michigan to consider ordering closure of Chicagoarea shipping locks to prevent the fish from threatening the Great Lakes. The locks could provide a pathway to Lake Michigan for the unwanted carp

The court had previously declined twice to order the locks closed on an emergency basis while it considered whether to hear the case. This time, the court rejected a proposal by Michigan and six other states to use a longstanding case involving water diversion from Lake Michigan as a vehicle for seeking to permanently sever a manmade linkage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin.

Michigan has led the legal fight to close the locks, arguing that the ravenous carp, weighing up to 100 pounds, could decimate the lakes' $7 billion fishing industry by starving out competitors such as salmon and walleye.

Mike Cox, the state's attorney general and a Republican candidate for governor, said responsibility for blocking the carp's advance now lies with President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders. The Obama administration sided with Illinois in opposing closure of the locks.

"While President Obama has turned a blind eye to the millions of Great Lakes residents who do not happen to live in his home state of Illinois, it is now up to him to save thousands of Michigan jobs and our environment," Cox said.

Although the high court refused to accept a new lawsuit, Michigan could file one in federal district court, said Nick Schroeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit. But doing so would take months, and "meanwhile, the carp are knocking at the door," he said.

Bighead and silver carp were among Asian varieties brought to the southern United States in the early 1970s. Government officials and private aquaculturists thought the newcomers could gobble up unwanted algae at sewage treatment plants and fish farms.

But the carp escaped into the Mississippi and have been migrating northward ever since. They have infested sections of the Illinois River and have reached an electronic barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, about 25 miles from Lake Michigan.

A team of biologists says it has detected DNA from the carp past the barrier and even within Lake Michigan itself. But no actual carp have been found between the barrier and the lake, despite an intensive search

The sanitary and ship canal was built a century ago as engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago River to send water from Lake Michigan southward toward the Mississippi. It created an artificial linkup between the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds that has provided a pathway for invasive species.

Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

Phillip Foss, executive chef at Lockwood restaurant, knows just what to do with Asian carp, an invasive fish species that is threatening the ecosystem of Illinois' waterways.

Just cook it.

Dice it into a fine, lime-cured ceviche. Or wrap it in a crispy potato shell and serve it over braised leeks and beurre rouge.

The Palmer House chef is turning carpe diem into carp dine-in, turning today's Great Lakes crisis into tomorrow's plat du jour.

For the last two weeks, Foss has been serving the fish as a no-risk, complimentary appetizer. Starting this week, he's asking people to pay for it; his appetizer-size "daily preparation" of Asian carp costs $12.

Last week, I stopped by Lockwood and sampled the cevishe, which was piled high on a crispy plank of bread amid a "spring symphony" of fiddlehead ferns, purple artichokes and carrot.

It was delicious. The fish was clean and light-tasting, not unlike sea bass, but with no hint of the sea. The flesh, firm and flaky, picked up subtle hints of citrus. I could eat this every day.

In addition to the ceviche and the Daniel Boulud-inspired potato-shell treatment, Foss plans to offer a carp chowder and an Asian carp-accio with young watermelon and pickled ramps and black garlic.

Foss sources his fish right from the Illinois River, which means every carp consumed is one fewer fish that can enter the Great Lakes. And, Foss adds, it's very safe to eat.

"It doesn't even reach the most conservative danger levels as far as PCBs are concerned," he says, "and mercury levels are extremely low because Asian carp don't eat fish at all."

Domestic carp are bottom feeders, leading to a funky taste not all can overlook. Asian carp filter plankton and algae from the water, and thus have an extremely mild flavor.

And talk about sustainable. The fish have thrived despite concerted efforts to kill them.

"We're only touching the surface of the future of this fish," Foss says. "Illinois ships 30 million pounds of it to Europe, Asia and Canada. There's no local market for it at all. But there should be."

Foss may indulge in a little word play, perhaps calling the fish "Shanghai bass."

History suggests that might work. There wasn't much market for slimehead, until some enterprising marketer renamed it orange roughy. And once Patagonian toothfish was relabeled Chilean sea bas, sales soared so high that now the fish is considered endangered.

Seems as if that's the least we could do for Asian carp. Dig in.

pvett@tribune.com