Republican Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Ohio Senate President Rob McColley visited northwest Ohio to promote and discuss the state’s H2Ohio water quality program, which focuses on protecting Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-h2ohio
Community and conservation partners are extending a public invitation to explore the newly protected AuSable River Scenic Preserve in Michigan. The opportunity will be available as part of a community celebration, which has been set for Tuesday, April 14, to showcase the 42-acre riverfront nature preserve in Oscoda. Read the full story by Iosco County News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-sable
Spring is spawning season for Michigan’s dinosaur-like aquatic life and it’s become tradition for environmentalists to “stand guard” as this vulnerable fish population makes its way up stream. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-sturgeon-2
In Wisconsin, conservationists are celebrating the return of sturgeon to the Milwaukee River, 20 miles upstream from Lake Michigan. It’s the first time one of the giant fish was documented in Ozaukee County in more than a century. The discovery of the sturgeon so far from Lake Michigan signals a milestone in a massive sturgeon restoration project that’s been underway for 20 years. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-sturgeon
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians is working to repopulate whitefish in Lake Michigan by reintroducing them in the Bear River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave the tribe a $200,000 grant for the project. Through this tribal wildlife grant, the band will conduct habitat surveys to find ideal instream incubation areas in the river. Read the full story by Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-whitefish
The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation announced the recipients of grants through its Sanctuary Community Fund last week. Ideal projects aim to increase conservation efforts and public access, raise awareness about the sanctuary and its heritage, and expand community learning and public outreach. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-sanctuary
As the spring fishing season approaches across Central New York, state researchers and tourism leaders have organized workshops to help boat captains prepare for the tourism season in the months ahead on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by WAER – Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-anglers
Flow Water Advocates, a Traverse City-based advocacy group, is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request for Fiscal Year 2027, pointing to major cuts for programs supporting clean water, public health and the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-flow
Internal government emails show staff at the Canada Water Agency trying to make sense of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget cuts in response to questions from the media. Carney’s first federal budget proposed $3.8 million in lower spending by 2029-30 at the agency, and a further $1.2 million categorized as a separate “ongoing,” or permanent spending reduction, for a total of $5 million in cuts. Read the full story by the Narwhal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260408-agency
The City of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, will consider a $200-million proposal to modernize port capabilities and create an industrial hub on Algoma Steel brownfield lands. Read the full story by SooToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-commercial-port
A Great Lakes freighter, the Lee. A. Tregutha, was stuck in the ice on Friday just off the Duluth, Minnesota, piers when trying to make its departure. Read the full story by KARE-TV – Minneapolis, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-duluth-freighter-ice
Aamjiwnaang First Nation is expressing concern after a pipeline that leaked into the St. Clair River has been returned to regular use and service without the community receiving information about the impacts of the leak or confirmation that it has been fully resolved. Read the full story by CKNX – Wingham, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-stclair-river-pipeline
Above-average walleye hatches in Lake Erie have occurred in eight of the past 11 years. However, perch have hit hard times, particularly in the deeper portion of the lake, and the causes for the prolonged string of poor hatches aren’t clear. Read the full story by the Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-walleye-perch
More than a decade after the idea first surfaced, a revamped proposal to buy Belle Isle and turn the public park into a privately funded housing, entertainment and retail district is drawing sharp criticism from Michigan officials and the Belle Isle Conservancy, who call the idea unrealistic. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-belle-isle-redevelopment
U.S. Coast Guard crews continue ice-breaking operations on the upper Great Lakes and St. Mary’s River in support of the Great Lakes commercial shipping season. Since the opening of the Soo Locks on March 25, the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards have assisted 23 upbound and 20 downbound commercial vessels. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-commercial-vessels
Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) is preparing to install two submersible hydroelectric devices in the St Lawrence River, marking its first urban project after years of operating in Alaska and Maine. The initiative comes as electricity demand rises sharply across the Great Lakes region, driven by population density, industrial growth, and the rapid expansion of data infrastructure. Read the full story by ESG News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-stlawrence-hydropower
Recent heavy thunderstorms have been shutting down Lake Erie fishing areas for at least a few days as Lake Erie has been roiled up and its tributaries overflowing their banks. It’s going to take a few days for the wet weather and muddy waters to stabilize and begin to clear. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-erie-flooding-fishing
The Lake Huron Coastal Centre is looking for volunteers to help at the annual beach clean-up in celebration of Earth Day. Read the full story by CKNX – Wingham, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-huron-cleanup
The Whiskey Island salt mine, owned by food giant Cargill, is below Cleveland, Ohio, and helps supply road salt across the Northeast and Great Lakes, where a colder, snowier-than-usual winter has driven demand. Read the full story by WESA – Pittsburgh, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260406-erie-salt-mine
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced new initiatives to tackle microplastics in the human body and drinking water on Thursday. Zeldin said the EPA will add microplastics and pharmaceuticals to its list of concerning chemicals in drinking water. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-microplastics-initiative
The U.S. Supreme Court has left standing a decision that allows Enbridge Energy to sue the state of Michigan over its efforts to shut down the Line 5 oil-and-gas pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-pipeline-case
A federal judge has ordered partial payments be disbursed to more than 12,000 adult claimants injured in the Flint water crisis. A secondary payment from the $626 million settlement fund will go out after several appeals related to the agreement have been resolved. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-flint-settlement
The International Niagara Board of Control said that while removal of the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom is typically completed by April 1, a significant amount of ice remaining in the lower Niagara River pushed the removal to April 6. Read the full story by WKBW-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-ice-boom
The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards continuing its spring ice-breaking work on the upper Great Lakes, having assisted 13 upbound and 10 downbound commercial vessels to transit the St. Marys River since the Soo Locks opened for the 2026 season on March 25. Read the full story by The Sault Ste. Marie Evening News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-ice-breaking
The Ohio Division of Wildlife on Thursday announced the daily catch limits for Lake Erie’s two primary sport fish—walleye and yellow perch—will remain unchanged for Ohio waters for the year beginning May 1 and ending April 30, 2027. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-fish-quotas
According to a Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) newsletter, “winterkill,” or the process by which fish suffocate under sealed ice and float up during spring thaw, is normal and usually doesn’t wreck fish populations in the long term. Read the full story by WITL – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-winter-kill
For the start of the 2026 fishing season, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources updated possession limits, size requirements and gear definitions for various species to manage state fisheries. The changes impact popular fishing spots including Lake Superior, the Menominee River and specific lakes in the Upper Peninsula. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-fishing-regulations
Years of sand migration on the 120-foot Mount Baldy within Indiana Dunes National Park have prompted a sand management and relocation program. This spring, crews are onsite to move about 40,000 cubic yards of sand through mid-June. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-dune-migration
The northern Michigan beach town of Ludington is leaning into cultural tourism by highlighting its more than 150 years of history – including museums, lighthouses and lumber baron homes – through a new storytelling initiative. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-beach-town-tourism
The S.S. Badger is kicking off its new season with a screening of a new film about the beloved Lake Michigan car ferry. The film tells the story of the Badger — the last coal-fired steamship in operation in the United States — and explores the boat’s place in the history of railroads. Read the full story by the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260403-badger-film
A new feature-length documentary about the bay of Green Bay explores the world’s largest freshwater estuary including the birds, fish, plants, nutrient cycles and invasive species that shape its health as well as the people who influence its future. Read the full story by Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-green-bay-film
Over the past 10 years, there’s been an increasing number of mystifyingly emaciated siscowet lake trout. Fishery officials are exploring food limitation, disease, impacts of sea lamprey and contaminants as possible causes of these “zombie fish.”. Read the full story by the MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-zombie-fish
Harsh winter weather has disrupted Coast Guard ice-breaking operations on the St. Marys River, forcing delays in assistance to big freighters and cargo ships that are trying to navigate the busy shipping channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay is now heading up to bolster ice clearing efforts. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-ice-clearing
Great Lakes cruise ships are expected to bring 23,000 visitors to destinations across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River this year with seven cruise lines in operation. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-great-lakes-cruises
A new study shows surprisingly flexible eating habits from invasive grass carp in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie suggesting these fish can survive and spread to new locations where their typical diet sources are scarce. Read the full story by Outdoor News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-grass-carp-research
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced more than $5.1 million to fund 51 projects that reduce the negative impacts of aquatic and terrestrial invasive species on natural resources, infrastructure, agriculture, and local economies supporting long-term ecosystem health, economic stability, and community wellbeing. Read the full story by LongIsland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-invasive-species-funding
A popular fishing spot in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is looking to expand its camping footprint and is asking for public feedback. New campsites are being considered for Carp River Campground in the Hiawatha National Forest along the Lake Huron shoreline. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-proposed-campsites
Two remarkable women made waves along Lake Michigan as the first female ship owner and lighthouse keeper. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV-Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-historic-females
Throughout March, the Great Lakes have seen a decline in ice coverage dropping as low as 15% total cover last week. Heading into April, Lake Erie ice coverage is only at 1.45%. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-ice-cover
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has received a $750,000 grant to continue restoration work at Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, one of northeast Ohio’s largest remaining coastal wetlands. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-wetland-restoration-grant
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said it has stocked more than 3,000 adult trout in the Huron River and Spring Mill Pond to boost fish populations and the recreational fishery. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260401-trout-stocking
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources surveys the Great Lakes fisheries every year between April and November. This information directly informs fisheries management decisions — such as stocking levels or regulated catch limits — and provides data on the success of past actions. Read the full story by the Iron Mountain Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-fish-assessments
After a day and a half of the Soo Locks being open, shipping has come to a standstill. Ice conditions and a lack of heavy U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers are creating delays for American shipping and manufacturing. Some U.S. shipping companies have suffered more than 24-hour delays. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-ice-jam
Some of the most skilled construction jobs in the Great Lakes happen in the water itself. Divers often contend with thick layers of invasive mussels that completely cover the structures they’re working on. One team near Port Huron, Michigan, has developed a method for obliterating the mollusks. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-mussel-removal
Home to one of the largest deposits of freshwater on the planet, the Great Lakes region will soon host next-generation tidal-powered generators – just as prices are being hiked across the US. Read the full story by The Guardian.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-hydropower-demand
Researchers are trying to determine how blue-green algae toxins affect people’s health when breathed through the air. Residents age 10 and older, who live, work, or recreate near Lake Erie in Lucas, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties in Ohio are invited to take part in a study to understand this potential relationship. Read the full story by WTOL – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-algal-bloom-health-effects
A new augmented-reality floor map of the Great Lakes region has arrived at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Ontario. The experience shares Indigenous knowledge and guides users along the path of an Anishinaabe Water Walker. Read the full story by The Owen Sound Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-ar-map
With no end in sight for historically low water levels in Lac St. Louis and Lake of Two Mountains, plans are being put in place to draw down Lake Ontario in order to keep the St. Lawrence Seaway at required operational levels. Read the full story by the Montreal Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-water-level-manipulation
Postage stamps featuring wildlife are helping to fund conservation and bring awareness to communities about habitat protection throughout the Great Lakes region. These stamps showcase wildlife artwork and are used as licenses for bird hunting, while also granting a free annual pass to national wildlife refuges. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-wildlife-stamps
The Lake Superior Estuarium is working on educating the public on how “good fires” can help restore Minnesota and Wisconsin Point’s forests. Read the full story by KQDS-TV- Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20260330-new-exhibit
