The Great Lakes Water Authority announced that the boil water advisory, which has been in effect for seven communities since a water main break was discovered on Aug. 13, has been lifted. Only one business in Greenwood remains under a boil water advisory. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-watermainbreak-boiladvisorylifted
Two major studies are underway to try to better understand why mallard duck populations are declining in the U.S. The Great Lakes population has been down by about 16-17%. Researchers are using new technology to help solve the mystery. Read the full story by WKAR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-mallardpopulations-greatlakes
Pelicans are becoming a common sight on many state waterways, including the Winnebago System, Mississippi River, the Fox River and Green Bay. The birds have earned a starring role in the book of modern Wisconsin wildlife recovery stories. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-featheredjewels-whitepelicans-wi
Climate change is imposing new challenges for the Great Lakes, such as lost ice cover, intensifying storms and fluctuating lake levels. However, so far, the impact of climate change on the health of the lakes is “undetermined,” according to the report. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-stateofthegreatlakes-climatechange
Several invasive species, such as the zebra mussel, are native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which includes the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas, and were imported to North America by transoceanic ships. These species are known to have disrupted ecosystems around the world, including those of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. However, the impacts of these invaders on native biodiversity appear to have been less extensive in the St. Lawrence River than in the Great Lakes. This phenomenon might be explained by the river’s weaker conductivity. Read the full story by The Conversation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-stlawrenceriver-hostiletoinvasivespecies
Gov. Tony Evers, together with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, announced Thursday their departments of transportation will seek $889.5 million in federal funding, available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to rebuild the John A. Blatnik Bridge between Duluth and Superior. Read the full story by Business North.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-federalfunds-duluthsuperiorbridgeproject
The first blue-green algae bloom appeared in Lake Superior a decade ago and until 2018, the blooms were small and short-lived, lasting from only a few hours to a day. But for Brenda Moraska Lafrancois, an aquatic ecologist for the National Park Service, a “sinking feeling” lingered long after the 2018 bloom. She realized this “wasn’t just a fluke but maybe part of a recurring pattern.” Read the full story by the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-bluegreenalgae-lakesuperior
Saildrone, a California based company that provides data solutions for maritime security, ocean mapping, and ocean data, launched two Saildrone Explorer uncrewed surface vehicles Tuesday on a large-scale mission in Lake Superior to support the sustainable management of the $7 billion per year Great Lakes fishery. Read the full story by TB News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-drones-lakesuperior
The Great Lakes region is enjoying another year of lower water levels and wider beaches. July water levels on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are down more than 2 feet from 2020, a year of near historic highs when waves devoured cherished stretches of sandy coastline. With the exception of Lake Ontario, the other Great Lakes are falling as well. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-lakemiwaterlevels
Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. may resume its long-stalled efforts to build the first offshore wind project in the U.S. Great Lakes after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a challenge to its permit. Read the full story by G Captain.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-ohiosupremecourt-greatlakesoffshorewind
Over 60 nature organizations in Ontario have signed a letter calling on both the federal and provincial governments to officially protect the Great Lakes. This letter asks David Piccini, Ontario’s minister of environment, conservation and parks, and federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault to designate the lakes as a national marine conservation area. Read the full story by Canada’s National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-ontario-natureorganizations
An annual effort to clean the waters of Marquette’s Lower Harbor is returning Saturday. For the fourth straight year, the Great Lakes Scuba Divers and Lake Preservation Club is holding its Underwater Cleanup. Each year, divers from the U.P. and even the Midwest have come to the Lower Harbor to pick up tons of tires and other junk at the bottom of Lake Superior. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-scubadivers-marquettesharbor
Bottles, bottle caps, straws, lighters, beach toys, bags, and dental floss picks. All these items have one thing in common — plastic bits and pieces washed ashore on the beaches of the Great Lakes. In collaboration with SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium inside Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Royal Oak, artist Hannah Tizedes spent over a year collecting trash from the Great Lakes to create a six-foot-long mosaic of repurposed plastic. Read the full story by The Oakland Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-royaloakartist-trashintotreasure-greatlakes
Scenic road trips just got supercharged as the Midwest works together to create an electric route along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The Lake Michigan EV Circuit Tour will be a network of electric vehicle chargers spanning over 1,100 miles of drivable shoreline around Lake Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakemishoreline-electicroute
Green algae scum is visible along Magee Marsh Wildlife Area’s shoreline, as scientists have bumped up their Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) severity seasonal projections this week. NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and its research partners originally predicted a severity of 3.5 on a scale of 10 in late June. Wednesday, NOAA revised its projection and now expects a bloom with a severity of 4.5 with a range up to 5.5 due to model uncertainty. Read the full story by Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakeeriealgaebloom
Rock snot, officially called didymo, was the centerpiece of the underwater research the DNR recently conducted in Lake Superior. Rantala and several other DNR researchers, fisheries biologists and members of the state agency’s aquatic invasive species unit traveled to Grand Marais in late July to collect samples from the bottom of Lake Superior. Read the full story by WTIP – Grand Marais, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakesuperiordive
Toxic algae in lakes and rivers is a growing problem for cities, pets, swimmers and fishers — and, increasingly, the farmers who are causing it. Harmful algal blooms are becoming a regular summer feature around the country, thanks to fertilizer-laden runoff and hot water temperatures. NOAA estimates algal blooms have cost coastal economies $1 billion over the past several decades in lost recreation, tourism and seafood harvesting. Read the full story by POLITICO.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-toxicalgae-perennialcrop
“Tremendous progress” is being made to restore and protect the Great Lakes from the impacts of toxic chemicals and the introduction of non-native invasive species. That’s according to the authors of a joint report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Climate Change Canada on July 29. Lake Michigan was assessed as “fair” and “unchanging.” Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-binationalreportstateofthelakes
Positioning wind farms offshore has proven successful in oceanic waters off Europe. Some say it has never been done in freshwater lakes and should not be tried on Lake Erie. Oceans are excellent for siting wind farms; freshwater lakes are better. The absence of corrosive salt water, oceanic tides, storms, and great depth give lakes the edge. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakeeriewindfarm
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash Free Waters Program paid for the UW-Oshkosh Marine Debris Mitigation Project boat that is helping to clear the waters of the Great Lakes. It’s Wisconsin’s first aquatic trash boat. Read the full story by Door County Pulse.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-boatcleansgreatlakes
Muskegon is one of 27 Great Lakes ports that are welcoming passengers back after cruises were grounded for two years due to the pandemic. Pent-up demand and the growing popularity of Great Lakes cruises are making this a record-breaking year and bringing millions of dollars to local communities. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-cruiseshipsmuskegon
Researchers are on a mission to map the bottom of all five Great Lakes, a system so sparsely-documented, some portions contain only one or two data points to cover an area the size of Detroit. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-mappingbottomgreatlakes
A tank of live invasive sea lampreys — the vampires of the Great Lakes — will visit the Midland Tall Ships Festival from July 22 through July 24. Read the full story by Midland Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-vampiresofthegreatlakes
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced that it has conducted targeted invasive carp sampling in Presque Isle Bay, Erie County, after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) detected the presence of Silver Carp environmental DNA (eDNA). Read the full story by PennWATCH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-invasivesilvercarp
Some South Haven businesses have started offering red flag day specials — deals to incentivize families to visit them rather than Lake Michigan when conditions are dangerous. Read the full story by UP Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-redflagdealslakemi
Member agencies of the St. Marys River Fisheries Task Group will conduct a fish community survey of the entire St. Marys River during August. The St. Marys River is a connecting channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The survey work will cover many locations along the 70-mile-long river, from the upper river near Brimley to where the river empties into Lake Huron at DeTour. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-fishsurverystmarysriver
West Michigan welcomes tens of thousands of visitors from around the world every summer and many of them travel by cruise ship. Cruise the Great Lakes expects about 150,000 visitors into ports around the Midwest and Canada in 2022. There are 4 cruise lines serving Great Lakes ports, generating more than $120 million this season. One of those ports is Muskegon. Read the full story by Fox 7 News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-greatlakescruises
A local history museum paired with the public library would make for an “exciting” combination at the Discovery Centre on Hamilton’s west harbour, Mayor Fred Eisenberger says. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-waterfrontdiscoverycentre
Three parks in Northeast Michigan will undergo improvements after Michigan allocated $535,000 to help fund renovations. Rogers City is slated to receive $185,000 to update the popular Lakeside Park on Lake Huron. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-localparkfunding
Jurors heard closing arguments Thursday in the only trial to arise thus far from the Flint water crisis, a dispute over whether two engineering firms should be held partially responsible for the city’s lead contamination in 2014-15. Read the full story by WNEM-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-flintwatercase
Sixty years of the Canadian Coast Guard service in Canada was recognized during a service aboard the Canadian Coast Guard vessel and museum, the Alexander Henry, on Monday. The Alexander Henry, a decommissioned icebreaker and part of the Lakehead Transportation Museum in Thunder Bay, was also celebrated — as it was launched in the city 64 years ago. Read the full story by The Chronicle Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220722-cacoastguard
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) today released a report on the second phase of its work to stop internet sales of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in the Great Lakes region. The GLC initiative, known as the Great Lakes Detector of Invasive Aquatics in Trade (GLDIATR), demonstrated that “web crawling” applications can be used to track the online sale of priority AIS and support the work of AIS researchers, outreach coordinators, managers, and law enforcement officials across the Great Lakes basin.
More than 185 nonnative aquatic species are currently established in the Great Lakes, and more are threatening to enter, including through a pathway known as organisms in trade – unintentional or intentional releases of animals and plants via the aquarium trade, nursery and water garden outlets, aquaculture, and the bait industry. Stopping the spread of AIS via this pathway is complicated by internet sales of organisms.
In 2010, the GLC started the GLDIATR effort to combat the trade of AIS over the internet. In phase two of the project, recently completed, the project team used different web crawlers to gather information on the availability of priority and high-risk AIS via online sales. More than 52,000 webpages were collected, which resulted in the identification of 299 sellers of AIS. The findings included websites in over 40 states and provinces, of which 67 sellers were found to reside in the Great Lakes region.
To help facilitate behavior change, the GLC worked with an advisory committee to reach out to identified sellers. The GLC was able to confirm a behavior change in 42 sellers following outreach (i.e., the seller was no longer selling the species of concern, or added additional shipping restrictions to their listing).
“The Great Lakes remain far too vulnerable to the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species, which are a huge ecological and economic threat to the region,” said Todd L. Ambs, chair of the GLC. “To combat this threat in 2022, we need new and innovative approaches like those explored by our GLDIATR project. The Great Lakes Commission is excited to share lessons learned and looks forward to working with our partners on this work in the future.”
For more information on the GLC’s work to stop aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes basin, visit www.glc.org/work/invasive-species/.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Todd L. Ambs, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (retired), is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/news/gldiatr-071222
The base of the food chain across the Great Lakes is changing in ways affecting the top of the food chain, the fish we love to catch and eat, and scientists at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth are trying to find out why. The problems are different in each lake, but start with tiny plants called phytoplankton, microscopic marine algae. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-phytoplankton-greatlakesfoodchain
Until now, the scope of PFAS problems in Illinois remained unknown. More than 8 million people in the state — 6 out of every 10 Illinoisans — get their drinking water from a utility where at least one forever chemical has been detected, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation that included a computerized analysis of test results and a review of court documents, government records and scientific studies. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-illinois-pfas-drinkingwater
While electric boats represent just two percent of the marine economy, industry players see big potential – and see northern Michigan as an ideal place to make an early mark. Read the full story by The Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-electricboatindustry-michigan
Eighteen lake sturgeon were detected migrating upstream this spring in the Milwaukee River, according to data from the Department of Natural Resources. The number is a modern-era record and was cheered by sturgeon recovery advocates. Read the full story by The Wausau Daily Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-sturgeon-milwaukeeriver
The Motor City was awash with maritime revelry Saturday as the Ocean Navigator cruise ship anchored at the RiverWalk in Detroit, MI for the first Port Days event aimed at showcasing maritime travel on Michigan’s beloved waters. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-portdaysevent-detroit
The Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area is working alongside other Upper Peninsula cooperative invasive species management areas to survey for native and invasive phragmites in Houghton, Baraga and Keweenaw counties (Michigan). Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-keweenawinvasivespecies-phrag
This year, partners in the Sault Ste. Marie area have come together to participate and want to invite the local community and partners to take part in this critical clean up initiative on Saturday, July 16, 2022. Since launching in Canada in 1994, the Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanup Program has expanded across Canada and now into the United States. Read the full story by Superior Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-shorelinecleanup-saultstemarie
To meet the growing enthusiasm for Québec City as a cruise destination, the Port of Québec now has a modern terminal as welcoming as the city itself. The cruise terminal was built following consultation with the local cruise industry, which had identified the need for a new terminal to improve the reception of cruise passengers in Québec City and ensure a high satisfaction rate. Read the full story by PortNews.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-portofquebec-terminal
Members of the Superior Watershed Partnership’s Great Lakes Climate Corps, take part in a habitat-improvement project Friday at McCarty’s Cove in Marquette. The day’s activities were to include pulling invasive vegetation and planting native beach grass. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-habitatrestoration-marquette
The appetite to get back on the water was clear as Welland’s Canadian Tire Floatfest broke two records last weekend on the Welland Canal, says Angie St. Pierre, the event’s safety and security co-ordinator. “We had more than 2,500 people registered, and approximately 1,800 floated which are both record numbers. said St. Pierre. Read the full story by the St. Catharines Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202207011-tirefloatfest
A Michigan regulatory panel said Thursday that it needs more information about safety risks before it can rule on Enbridge Energy’s plan to extend an oil pipeline through a tunnel beneath a waterway linking two of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-greatlakesoiltunnelplan
When ships come to the St. Lawrence River, it’s what they leave behind that’s an issue for environmentalists, and members of Congress. They’ve penned a letter, hoping for change to protect what’s in the Thousand Islands. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-stricterballastcontrols
Canada’s Invasive Species Centre (ISC) hopes to eradicate an aquatic plant that forms extremely dense floating mats of vegetation that shades out native vegetation and decreases plant biodiversity first discovered in the Welland River two years ago. Said Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority outreach worker Kerry Royer, “We certainly wouldn’t want it getting into the Niagara River and then move into the Great Lakes.” Read the full story by the St. Catharines Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-waterchestnut
Residents of eastern Quebec probably remember the exceptional weather conditions and the very high tide of Dec. 6, 2010. The combination caused flooding along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and millions of dollars in damage to public and private infrastructure. Researchers are now asking when might the exceptional high tides of the St. Lawrence River strike next? Read the full story by the National Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-hightidegreatlakes
Lake Michigan is considered the deadliest of the Great Lakes. Numbers show Lake Michigan has had the most drownings in the past two years. Now, Racine wants to change that. Read the full story by FOX6 News Milwaukee.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-watersafetyenhancements
This year’s Tall Ships Festival in Cleveland will include some of the more disgusting denizens of the Great Lakes – sea lampreys. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission will be on hand with a half-dozen sea lampreys in a tank to publicize the destructive nature of the invasive species and why it’s important to continue controlling its population. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-clevelandsealamprey
Gov. Tony Evers appeared in Algoma Thursday, announcing four grants from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program (WCMP) that will impact Kewaunee County, WI. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Algoma, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-wisconsincmp
June has shaped up to be much busier than the same time last year with improved cargo volumes in the Thunder Bay, Ontario port. Both potash and general cargo shipments were up, while grain volumes had a modest rebound. Read the full story by The Chronicle Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220708-thunderbayport
