Representative Gwen Moore announced she secured $533,500 in federal funding for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Great Lakes Aquaculture Center in the Agriculture Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007. The funds will be used for the expansion of the center, which is operated in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and for the research and development of aquaculture technologies and techniques that will increase the production of the area's seafood industry.
"Lake Michigan is invaluable to our area, providing Milwaukee with recreation, access to other cities around the world through our port, and a growing opportunity to become a major resource for the seafood industry," said Moore. "This funding will help UWM scientists figure out how to reap even more from the Great Lakes by fueling the expansion of our local seafood industry and the resulting job creation."
http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.cfm?Id=642&yr=2006
Job creation is good and fine, but the fact this news release is posted on the "Wisconsin ag connection" is unsettling. Treating the Great Lakes as a fish farm will not promote their health -- especially if one thinks of the even bigger fish farms, the oceans, whose fish stocks are in many cases collapsing.
Nearly 10,000 people around Ohio own houses, condominiums or cottages in Ohio's vacationland: the Lake Erie islands and the mainland in Ottawa and Erie counties.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1148891478176100.xml&coll=2
That's at least 10,000 votes, one hopes, for Great Lakes restoration. And at least 10,000 pairs of eyes watching to see how Lake Erie, the system's canary in a coal mine or early warning system, responds to this summer's heat, invasive species and runoff.
Now we need four more...or five, counting Lake St. Clair.
http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3856
ALGOMA, Wis. (AP) — A little red lighthouse. Beach boardwalks. The blue-green waters of Lake Michigan stretching to the horizon. Just another pretty-as-a-postcard day on the shores of this sleepy town of 5,700 about a half-hour east of Green Bay.
But changes could be in store for Algoma and other towns and cities that line the Great Lakes. Energy experts are set to meet in Madison and Toledo, Ohio, next month to talk about the prospects of implanting giant electricity-generating windmills in the Great Lakes.
The great northern shore of Minnesota faces growth challenges:
Cook County is a lot like Alaska. We live in a large, northern boreal forest bordered on the north by the vastness of Canada and the largest Federal wilderness area in the U.S.; on the south by Lake Superior, the world’s largest body of fresh water, an inland ocean. Our lakes, streams and forests abound with wildlife and opportunities for recreational pursuits far removed from the hustle of urban life.
http://www.grandmarais-mn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=5&story_id=220021
URGE CONGRESS TO PROTECT THE GREAT LAKES FROM MONSTER FISH
Problem: An electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is out of money and urgently needs $400,000 to keep Asian carp – which could destroy the $4 Billion fishery - out of the Great Lakes.
Senators Voinovich (R-OH) and Obama (D-IL) were able to secure an amendment to the Senate's version of an emergency spending bill that will authorize the Corps of Engineers to spend $400,000 in 2006 to maintain the Asian carp barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Some congressional leaders are saying that the emergency spending bill should be for defense and hurricane Katrina related projects only. It is our job to show Congress that keeping Asian carp from destroying the Great Lakes is an emergency and must be in this bill.
This amendment is a critical first step to keeping the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes and we now must push for it to survive a House / Senate conference committee. Unfortunately this is only a temporary solution. We still need funding for 2007 and beyond to make the barrier permanent and for its operation and maintenance.
Tell your member of Congress to:
· Please retain the Senate amendment that provides $400,000 for the Asian carp barrier system to keep Asian carp from destroying the Great Lakes fishery.
· This amendment does not add any cost to the emergency supplemental appropriations bill (HR 4939).
· This funding is fully offset within existing fiscal year 2006 Army Corps of Engineers funds.
· The amendment comes at a critical time. The Army Corps needs the resources to continue operating the demonstration barrier while Congress considers permanent authorizations for operating and maintaining this critical system.
Background: Asian carp pose a significant threat to the Great Lakes by disrupting the food chain that supports the native fish of the Great Lakes. Due to their large size, ravenous appetites, and rapid rate of reproduction, the Asian carp could become the dominant species in the Great Lakes. Such an invasion would put a $4.1 billion sport and commercial fishing industry critical to the Great Lakes region at risk.
Currently, a barrier system is being completed in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which connects that Mississippi River basin with the Great Lakes system. Barrier I is currently operating. Barrier II is under construction and will hopefully be finished and tested soon. Congress has never permanently authorized the system and it continues to face challenges in finding the funding needed to continue operations.
Scientists have discovered another toxic remnant of Muskegon's industrial era -- a layer of contaminated, greasy mud on the bottom of Muskegon Lake that is loaded with mercury and has the consistency of "pudding."
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1148399124195330.xml&coll=8
The National Academy of Sciences today will convene a committee of transportation, economic and environmental experts to explore ways to stanch the flow of unwanted creatures into the world's largest freshwater system while enhancing global trade in the region. The meeting is part of what could be a two-year project to solve the seaway's invasive species woes.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=426104
That's what the left arm is doing. Meanwhile, the right arm (a Congressional committee) last week actually increased proposed funding far beyond the Bush Administration's request to study how to bring more oceangoing vessels (and invasives) into the Great Lakes. The full House votes on the money Friday (approximately $2 million, up from the Administration's proposed $350,000.
One arm studies, the other arm acts.
About 1,400 pairs of the tiny yellow-breasted, blue-gray-backed songbirds exist in the world, and the Kirtland's remains an endangered species. As recently as 1987, only 167 singing males were counted. They nest almost exclusively in the jack pine forests of northern Michigan and spend winters in the Bahamas.
The birds were named for Dr. Jared Kirtland, who lived in Lakewood and on whose property the first Kirtland's warbler was collected in 1851. The birds seen last week were the first-ever Kirtland's sightings at Headlands and only the sixth and seventh sightings in Northeast Ohio since 1950, according to "Birds of the Cleveland Region."
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/114794925320200.xml&coll=2
An ugly little bottom dweller from the Black Sea has been a bully since it moved into the Great Lakes.
The round goby, a 6-inchlong fish that reached the Great Lakes in the ballast of foreign ships several years ago, has developed a reputation for wiping out the smallmouth bass, one of the most popular sports fish in Lake Erie.
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/05/08/20060508-A1-04.html
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — In the shadow of the powerhouse that Henry Ford built alongside the Rouge River to light his estate, a pair of blue herons linger near the water's edge before taking flight.
For Jim Murray, who has spent decades working to rally government, businesses and volunteers to rejuvenate what once was one of the nation's dirtiest rivers, the birds represent only one example of how far the cleanup has come.
And:
Lake Whitefish Returning to the Detroit River to Spawn; Federal Scientists Document First Reproducing Population of Whitefish in the River Since 1916
Lake whitefish, currently the number one commercial fish in the Great Lakes and a key indicator of ecosystem health, are once again reproducing in the Detroit River according to scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Scientists from the federal agencies discovered spawning lake whitefish and fertilized whitefish eggs in the Detroit River last fall, the first documented spawning of the fish in the river since 1916. The discovery provides further evidence of progress in the ecological recovery of the Detroit River, home to North America’s only International Wildlife Refuge and part of the International Heritage River System.
The Detroit River recently received international acclaim at the Whitehouse Conference on Cooperative Conservation for its progress towards ecological recovery and for the public and private partnerships that have worked to revitalize the storied river. The river is now a major catalyst in the economic redevelopment of the Detroit River waterfront and the revival of a glorious “front porch” for the region.
“The return of lake whitefish to the Detroit River is partially the result of 40 years of pollution prevention and control activities in the Detroit/Windsor metropolitan areas”, said Dr. Leon Carl, Center Director, USGS Great Lakes Science Center. “Scientists are continuing studies of this unique river ecosystem to learn more about the habitat needs of lake whitefish and other native fish that may potentially lead to the re-establishment of this heritage fishery.”
“This whitefish recovery is helping transform the river into an internationally recognized wildlife refuge that is providing an exceptional ecotourism experience to residents of Southeast Michigan and Southwest Ontario”, said Dr. John Hartig, Refuge Manager, Detroit International Wildlife Refuge.
The Detroit River was well known for its whitefish fishery in the 1800s and early 1900s, but habitat loss and degradation, pollution, and other factors contributed to the loss of this important fishery. The river has a history of environmental problems such as oil pollution in the 1940s and 50s; phosphorus pollution in the 1960s; “mercury crisis” of 1970 and organochlorine contamination since the 1970s. The river began its rebound to better health in early 1970s with the U.S. and Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and passage of the U.S. Clean Water Act in 1972. Other federal, state and local initiatives have since helped to reduce the volume of pollutants entering the river. Compared to 1972 levels, discharges of oil have been reduced by 98 percent and phosphorus discharges reduced by 95 percent. Scientists have also measured a 70 percent decline in mercury contamination in fish and an 83 percent decline in PCB levels in herring gulls from Fighting Island. The Detroit River now boasts reproducing populations of peregrine falcons, lake sturgeon, and bald eagles, and is gaining a national reputation as a world-class walleye fishery.
Scientists will continue to assess a number of sites in the Detroit River and in the Huron-Erie Corridor (which also includes the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and western Lake Erie) to determine where whitefish are spawning, what their habitat requirements are, and other information on growth and reproduction. USGS scientists are currently conducting additional whitefish habitat assessment in the Detroit River which began in March, 2006, and have collected many whitefish larvae. The whitefish eggs collected in 2005 were brought back to the USGS Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, subsequently hatched, and are now being raised in the lab. Results from this research will help direct fisheries managers in future efforts to restore native fish populations and habitat in the river.
May 18, 2006 — A re-analysis of the weather conditions on Lake Superior during the November 1975 gale when the lake freighter Edmund Fitzgerald went down, killing all 29 aboard, shows a period when the winds and waves were the most extreme, say the NOAA scientists who conducted the review.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2633.htm
...and thank goodness they are.
Interesting blog post:
We Canadians can be a prickly sort. So I for one wasn't particularly surprised to see that large majorities of us are opposed to selling water to the U.S. (This is the same country that's gotten extremely wealthy -- and abandoned its Kyoto commitment -- by selling the U.S. as much tar sand oil as we can make.) Still, Jim Margolis' recent article at The American Prospect has some interesting bits.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/5/17/193325/633
ELMHURST — After more than a year of discussion and negotiations, the DuPage Water Commission and DuPage County have officially signed a contract.
The Water Commission this week unanimously approved the agreement, which allows the county to become customers of the Water Commission and have the ability to provide Lake Michigan water to residents living in unincorporated areas of the county.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/city/2_1_AU14_WATER_S1.htm
DuPage County is most emphatically not in the Great Lakes Basin. While the transfer noted above is apparently legal under the Supreme Court decree governing the Chicago diversion, why is "one of the wealthiest counties" in the U.S. getting access to Lake Michigan water rather than conserving water or locating development where acess to water is natural and exists?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPage_County,_Illinois
No one is sure what is going on, but such rapid change is a potential alarm bell.
Changes in the biology of the Great Lakes once crept along at the snail's pace of evolution. Today, nervous scientists see radical changes occurring in years rather than centuries.
For example, salmon fishing in Lake Huron collapsed within two years of the disappearance of alewives, their primary prey fish.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060516/LIFESTYLE05/605160302/1029
No, not Lake St. Clair. Not Lake Champlain either.
What is it?
It's big enough to cause lake-effect snow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_effect
It's almost four times bigger in surface area than Lake St. Clair:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nipigon
By DAN EGAN
degan@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 13, 2006
When the Army Corps of Engineers explored the potential benefits of expanding the St. Lawrence Seaway a few years back, the agency pooh-poohed worries that more overseas ships carrying more unwanted hitchhiking organisms would, logically, lead to more ecological trouble for the Great Lakes.
The Corps did acknowledge that opening the once-isolated lakes to overseas ships already had resulted in the arrival of some troublesome species. But it told the public not to fret the environmental consequences of a Seaway expansion.
"The most dramatic impacts to the ecosystem have likely already occurred," the Corps concluded in a more than 400-page report, released in June 2002.
What, after all, could cause more havoc than the zebra mussel?
Meet the quagga mussel.
Less than four years after that reassuring report, quagga mussels have gone from a rare find on the bottom of Lake Michigan to its dominant invasive mussel. Along the way, they have done what many invasion biologists thought would be impossible: They have nearly annihilated Lake Michigan's zebra mussel population.
That is not necessarily a good thing.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=423678
For those promoting and concerned about the potential of offshore wind in the Great Lakes, this Texas model seems to show what not to do:
http://enn.com/today.html?id=10447
"The wind rush is on," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. "We want to be No. 1. We want to attract the businesses that build the turbines, that build the blades."
Some environmentalists said the spinning blades could kill countless rare birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.
"You probably couldn't pick a worse location," said Walter Kittelberger, chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, an environmental group named for the strip of water between the mainland and Padre Island.
TRAVERSE CITY — Neighbors and a local environmental group can join the state's lawsuit over pollution problems at Williamsburg Receiving and Storage, a Lansing judge ruled.
And why was the state, the representative of the people, against this?
http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/may/11wrs.htm
You're probably familiar with products that used 3M's former chemistry such as non-stick cookware and old Scotchguard. Still, what helped repel, also proved indestructible in nature, and it's somehow, now showing up everywhere. 3M found low levels in people. Scientists say it was found in eagles, even Arctic polar bears.
University of Minnesota environmental chemistry professor Matt Simcik, who studies how pollutants get around, said "These chemicals weren't supposed to go anywhere - and yet we find them."
Simcik has reviewed the reports that led to the Bluegill Sunfish advisory in Pool 2 on the Mississippi River.
In those reports, one compound in particular seemed to like the fish. While there's a wide range in both reports' filet samples, Professor Simcik sees the highest filet readings ever reported in the world right in Minnesota's corner of the Mississippi River.
"You have to consider that people are not using fish from pool 2 as their sole source of energy," Simcik said. "But a bald eagle flying by, it's going to get all of its food and all of its energy from those fish it pulls out of the river."
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=123776
Seventeen years after Michigan passed a law phasing out dune mining, Nugent sand gets another five-year dune destruction permit.
The big mistake was made 30 years ago, when enforcement of the dune statute was given to the Geological Survey Division, which loves mining, instead of the Land and Water Management Division, which loves shoreline habitat.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1147187737137990.xml&coll=8&thispage=2
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a glitch to fix before it flips the switch.
Its new electrified barrier to stop Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes via Lake Michigan was scheduled to be turned on Monday.
But it turns out the barrier, in the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal at Romeoville, is a little too electrified.
http://suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-carp09.html
Don't blame the fish farmers (aquaculturists), this journal article says. Blame the feds and particularly an Arkansas Fish and Wildlife facility.
http://www.fisheries.org/html/fisheries/F3103/F3103p113-121Mitchell.pdf
If true, this certainly increases the responsibility of the federal government to pay the total bill for keeping these marauders out of the Great Lakes.
Natalia Andronova studies global and regional climate change, focusing in part on how human activity affects the chemical composition of the atmosphere and thus our climate. She says the Great Lakes are not insulated from global warming's effects, but that change here will occur more slowly for a variety of reasons.
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1146996754187040.xml&coll=2
The administration is slowly replacing communists lurking in every shadow with terrorists. And terrorism may become an even better brand than communism for demonizing dissent. In March, six green activists found themselves among the first victims of a new front in the War on Terror, and of an old PR game.
http://www.counterpunch.org/potter05042006.html
You don't have to sympathize with or support the actions of animal rights activists to wonder whether in this and similar cases, "terrorism" isn't just a synonym for damaging profits through free speech.
Before 1988 only a handful of Michigan residents likely knew — or cared — what a zebra mussel was. What would happen if a few were dumped into the Earth's freshwater seas, the Great Lakes, was anybody's guess.
Now, much to our regret, we know all too well what the zebra mussel is and what it can do when it reproduces unchecked. And unless we are incredibly lucky, everyone will soon know just what a New Zealand mudsnail is, too, and what it can do to our lakes.
All because the Great Lakes shipping industry, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Interior Department, the U.S. Senate and a host of other agencies haven't done the job that American citizens expect of them.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/may/05edit.htm
The yellow blooms are open on the state's rarest wildflower, the Lakeside daisy, which grows in just three places around the world including on Lake Erie's Marblehead Peninsula.
The Lakeside daisy thrives where other plants have trouble growing: on limestone rock out in full sunlight.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=local&id=4138306
Satire alert...
WASHINGTON, DC—Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson apologized during a press conference Tuesday for what critics called "flagrant oversight and neglect" in monitoring ground- and tap-water quality across the United States, claiming that his department was unaware that citizens were still consuming it.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/47727