Biologists are investigating why whitefish numbers in the lower Great Lakes are cratering without adequate spawn classes to replace them. New evidence indicates the fish, which lay eggs on shallow reefs that rely on winter ice cover, are being squeezed by shifting temperatures. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-whitefish-populations
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is issuing a precautionary notice to residents based on visual confirmation of a blue-green algae bloom on Lake St. Clair. Residents on the municipal drinking water system can drink the water, unless they are notified otherwise. Read the full story by the Kingsville Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-habs-notice
The city of Toronto dumped more than 1,300 megalitres of partially treated wastewater into Lake Ontario during Tuesday’s torrential downpour. Three wastewater plants were “bypassing,” a process in which stormwater and sewage are diverted from a secondary treatment procedure. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-sewer-bypass
A partnership led by the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition and the University of Wisconsin-Madison received $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program earlier this summer. The partnership builds on existing efforts by tribal nations in Wisconsin to reinvigorate their traditional agricultural practices. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-tribal-university-partnership
The wreck of the historic 130-foot Margaret A. Muir schooner has been found off the coast of Wisconsin more than 130 years after it plunged to the bottom of Lake Michigan with the captain’s beloved dog on board. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-shipwreck-discovery
Lorain County commissioners and staff continue to work toward a regional sewer and storm water treatment plant that would lower costs for all residents of Lorain County, Ohio. The project has been underway for a year, but first, a number of steps in a “complex” process must be met. Read the full story by The Morning Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-wastewater-treatment-regionalization
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $7.56 million contract to Great Lakes Dock & Materials, LLC, to make repairs on approximately 1,450 feet of the lake side of Dunkirk Harbor‘s breakwater in Dunkirk, New York. Read the full story by WRFA – Jamestown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-breakwater-repair
Although some parks and sports fields in Mississauga, Ontario, are still closed following last week’s torrential rainstorm, the city says the damage could have been significantly worse without strong stormwater infrastructure in place to mitigate the floods. Read the full story by insauga.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-stormwater-infrastructure
Wildlife monitoring of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers this summer resulted in a consecutive year for setting a record for the number of unique piping plover breeding pairs, breaking the record set last year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-piping-plover-breeding
Government officials along with Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie (CATWILE) are holding a rally to oppose wind turbines in the Great Lakes in Irving, New York. CATWILE is a group of citizens focused on informing and educating the public about the risks and opposing the building of industrial wind turbines in Lake Erie. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240724-turbine-advocacy
Environmental and administrative lawyers say that efforts to protect Wisconsin’s water from contaminants such as PFAS could be harmed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the 40-year-old precedent known as Chevron deference. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-court-decision-impact
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a forecast predicting a moderate to above moderate harmful algal bloom in the western Lake Erie basin this summer. Read the full story by WYSO – Yellow Springs, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-hab-forecast
A Wisconsin state law forbids lead pipe replacement when a private water utility is involved. Superior Water, Light & Power – the only private water utility statewide – and local officials are pushing to change the law in order to accelerate lead pipe replacement. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-lead-removal
An oil spill from a service line adjacent to the marine dock in Sarnia, Ontario, was reported Thursday evening in the St. Clair River. The spill was cleaned up by around 11:15 p.m. Read the full story by Sarnia News Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-oil-spill
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has proposed a new project to mitigate the immediate risks of erosion along the Line 5 oil pipeline, a move that comes amid fraught conflict between the Band and the Canadian oil giant Enbridge. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-erosion-prevention
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has launched an environmental review of the potential impacts of repowering the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in west Michigan’s Covert Township. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-nuclear-plant-restart
Dredging operations are underway in Michigan’s Manistee Harbor to improve ship navigation through the channel. Read the full story by Ludington Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-dredging-project
The historic 1,000-pound anchor from the Oak Leaf, a schooner-turned-barge that sank in Wisconsin’s Sturgeon Bay in 1928, was recently moved to Bullhead Point, a small spit of land jutting into the Sturgeon Bay channel which is now on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historical and Archaeological District. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-anchor-relocation
As of Wednesday, eight Michigan beaches were closed due to high Escherichia coli, or E. coli, levels in the water within Arenac, Bay, Macomb, Oakland, Lenawee, and Allegan counties. Beach closure information is updated regularly on BeachGuard, a site run by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240712-beach-closures
Commercial fishing on the Great Lakes began 150 years ago, and fishermen once numbered in the thousands. Now, only a handful of businesses are still at it, and many are aging out. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-fishing-workforce
Several government, labor and science leaders are calling on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to sign an agreement to keep invasive carp from spreading to the Great Lakes. July 1 is the deadline for Illinois, Michigan and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to sign the Protect Partnership Agreement. Read the full story by WBBM – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-carp-protection
Mayflies and walleyes are species scientists use as an indicator of lake health; good populations of both normally indicate healthy Lake Erie water conditions. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-indicator-species
A beef farmer from Michigan is the first to be shut down by state standards of acceptable PFAS in biosolids. The farmer is now one of many across the country threatening to sue the U.S. EPA because the farm’s fertilizer was both approved and recommended for use on the farm by EPA. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-pfas-litigation
For the first time in its history, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians opened its walleye fish hatchery to the public. People were invited to learn about walleye rearing efforts as the fishery’s staff prepare to transport and release upwards of one million walleye fingerlings into nearby lakes and streams. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-walleye-hatchery
Two neighborhoods in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, will soon have access to Lake Michigan water, eliminating the current well-water system. Lake County Board officials said the aging well system would have been more expensive to repair than connecting the neighborhoods to lake water. Read the full story by WBBM-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-water-source
The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena, Michigan, offers tours of ‘Shipwreck Alley,’ enabling participants to view nearly one hundred shipwrecks in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-shipwreck-tour
Cenovus Energy, in partnership with the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the University of Toledo, will invest $100,000 for research on the effects of ice cover in Lake Superior and Lake Erie, including its effects on harmful algae blooms. Read the full story by KQDS-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-ice-research
After a quarter century, the Conservation Resource Alliance has completed its “Free Spanning the Maple River” initiative. From beginning to end, all infrastructure such as dams and culverts have been removed from the Maple River in northern Michigan to allow for an entirely free flowing river. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-river-flow
The Ohio Department of Health reported that Multiple Lake Erie beaches in Northeast Ohio were put under a bacteria contamination advisory this week, which indicates the level of bad bacteria in the water has reached unsafe levels and could make you sick. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240614-bacteria-advisory
The United States Coast Guard says hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel spilled into Lake Superior on Wednesday morning, May 29. The Coast Guard estimates the quantity of the spill to be around 300 gallons, and it is now contained. The clean-up effort is still in effect as of May 30, and it’s unclear how long it will take. Read the full story by WCCO-TV – Minneapolis, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-oil-spill
Within the Great Lakes watershed there are 23 nuclear power plants, four sites for mining uranium, six for uranium processing and 12 places where nuclear waste is stored. An interactive map shows all the nuclear power operations within the Great Lakes watershed. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-nuclear-sites
A piping plover egg has been spotted at Montrose Beach in Chicago and could hatch within the next month. The egg is a culmination of yearslong efforts by nature groups to boost the Great Lakes piping plover population, which has been listed as federally endangered since 1986. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-plover-egg-spotting
In 2019, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine started a program called H2Ohio to encourage farmers to change the way they manage farm runoff to slow down the entry of phosphates into the Maumee River watershed. Currently, 2,600 producers have enrolled in the H2Ohio program, covering 1.8 million farm acres working to prevent heavy rain from washing out fertilizer and soil. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-nutrient-pollution-program
Michigan’s Great Lakes and Fresh Water Week is back, running from June 1 to June 9 to celebrate the connection between water and wellness in the state. Free fishing weekend will take place from June 8 to June 9, and the Library of the Great Lakes is offering two free books through their inaugural Great Lakes, Great Read program. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-freshwater-week
The city of Highland Park, Michigan, has been grappling with a water debt crisis for years, owing millions of dollars to the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA). In October 2023, a tentative deal was reached between GLWA and Highland Park to end the dispute, but the agreement is still unsettled and needs approval from all parties involved. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-water-debt
Great Lakes Tribes are reviving the population of wild rice, or manoomin, an ecologically important wetland species, after two centuries of decline. Today, rising temperatures threaten the rice’s future because the seeds are supposed to grow while submerged in snow and ice, but the lack of snow coverage has made that difficult. Read the full story by The Cool Down.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-manoomin-restoration
In Oneida County, Wisconsin, Crescent Lake has an adequate adult population of walleye, but stakeholders are concerned about the lack of juvenile fish. While reproduction typically fluctuates, with a strong generation every three to four years, reproduction from those adult walleyes within the lake hasn’t been recorded for the last six years. Read the full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-walleye-reproduction
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 2025, open water swimmers will have an opportunity to participate in a 17-stage, 411-mile relay swim from Lake Superior, where the shipwreck lies, to Detroit, the ship’s intended destination. Read the full story by WSTM-TV – Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240603-shipwreck-journey
The warmer than normal air temperatures in April and so far in May are boosting most of the Great Lakes’ water temperatures. While the southern Great Lakes are really heating up, Lake Superior remains amazingly cold. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-water-temperature
A massive underground project in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, will protect Lake St. Clair by preventing raw sewage from being diverted directly into the lake to avoid flooding. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-flooding-prevention
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences has made its mark on Great Lakes research as the only graduate school of freshwater sciences in the United States. The school’s main research vessel, the Neeskay, is the only one out on the Great Lakes year-round. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-research-vessel
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum’s newest exhibit, “Wisconsin’s Shipwreck Coasts,” features more than 100 artifacts from Wisconsin shipwrecks dating back to the mid-1800s, including personal items, family heirlooms and cargo salvaged in the 1970s. Many of the treasures in this 3,000-square-foot permanent exhibit are on public display for the first time. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-shipwreck-exhibit
Hundreds of cruise ship passengers will once again have the chance to explore the northeast Wisconsin city of Algoma when the cruise ship Viking Octantis makes its first of eight stops there on May 29. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-cruise-destinations
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced that this year’s muskellunge, or muskie, fishing season for Great Lakes waters — which include Lake Erie, the Upper Niagara River, the Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and tributaries to these waters — will begin on June 15. Read the full story by North Country Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-muskie-season
A Tulane University professor explored the idea of Duluth being an ideal location for climate migration in a 2019 study that has been receiving greater attention recently. Duluth’s proximity to Lake Superior, among other social and environmental factors, made the city stand out. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-climate-migration
Cruise season will officially get underway in Cleveland during Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday, ships from Viking and Pearl Seas will dock at the Port of Cleveland, giving passengers a full day’s worth of opportunities to explore the area. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-cruise-season
A Michigan man who holds 53 world records has set the new state record for catching a white perch in Lake St. Clair last month. It weighs 2 pounds, 5.92 ounces and measured 16.25 inches, beating the previous state record white perch – 2 pounds, 13.57 inches, that was caught in 2015. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-fishing-record
In Wisconsin, Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline crosses sovereign lands of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Enbridge seeks to construct a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, keeping the pipeline running for the years it will take for approval and construction. Michigan and the tribe are fighting to shut down the pipeline and prevent the tunnel. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240524-pipeline-concern
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) is looking for support on a proposed Buffalo Reef stamp sand removal plan. Mining stamp sands are encroaching on the 22,000-foot reef and its status as spawning grounds for whitefish and trout. The sands would be moved to an upland location, stabilized, and monitored for any outflow. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240510-stamp-sand-removal
A White House official visited the Lake Elmo, Minnesota high school known as “ground zero” for PFAS contamination. Last year, state lawmakers passed Amara’s Law, named for a Tartan High School graduate who spent the last few months of her life lobbying Minnesota state lawmakers to crack down on the “forever chemicals” which contributed to her liver cancer diagnosis. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240510-pfas-visit
