By Tom Watts, Journal Register News Service
We are thankful for many things on this holiday, but when it comes to our water resources in Southeast Michigan, we are grateful when good news gushes our way.

Small miracles do happen on the Detroit River. Land that was once used a chemical dump has been turned into new habitat for bass, sturgeon and walleye.

Some of the leaders in this comeback project may surprise you. John Hartig, Detroit River International Refuge Manager, said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality took the lead in negotiating and approving the cleanup of the BASF Corporation Riverview site in the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have a goal to reduce levels of toxic substances to a threshold that does not threaten or harm or adversely affect wildlife, fish or human health, Hartig said. "We have an interest in stopping the input of toxic substances to the river and refuge."

Hartig said the USFWS provided input to the DEQ and BASF regarding the need to stop the input of contaminants from the BASF Riverview site.

"Further, we encouraged the removal of 35,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the Trenton Channel (out in front of the BASF Riverview site) and disposal of the contaminated sediment in the upland containment cell on site," Hartig said. "An inward hydraulic gradient is maintained, stopping any input of contaminants. Once the sediment remediation was completed, BASF built one acre of fish habitat."

Once the input of contaminants was stopped and the sediment remediation was completed, the USFWS encouraged BASF to construct the fish habitat and provided advice.

For their part, BASF spent about $100,000 on the habitat. "The money was used to purchase limestone rock for fish spawning habitat and to place the stone in the river," Hartig said. "They also added some incidental habitat (habitat features added to navigational structures like break walls and jetties) at the base of the steel sheet pile wall."
Records indicate BASF acquired the property near the Grosse Ile toll bridge and the Riverview boat dock in the 1960s. The land was used as a dump site by its previous owner. In 1998, mercury, PCBs and dioxin were found to be contaminating the groundwater.

"This habitat project was done as part of the Michigan DEQ approved remediation of the BASF Riverview site," Hartig said. "Again, once the input of contaminants was stopped (as a result of the remediation) and 35,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments in the Trenton Channel remediated, then one acre of fish habitat was constructed."


Click here for the entire article:
http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2009/11/29/sports/srv0000006948301.txt

Steve Pardo / The Detroit News

Federal officials say DNA evidence shows the aggressive Asian carp may have breached the electronic barrier designed to prevent it from invading the Great Lakes.

Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said today that DNA of the giant carp has been found north of the barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Cal-Sag channel leads to Lake Michigan. Environmentalists fear the carp could wreak havoc on the region's $4.5 billion fishing industry.
"This means we have to take aggressive action now because an invasion is imminent," said Jennifer Nalbone, director of Navigation and Invasive Species at Great Lakes United. "This is not the time for deliberation. This is the time for action."

Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms in the 1990s and have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. They grow to more than 4 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds. The powerful carp are known to knock boaters from their boats.

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091120/METRO/911200420/1409/METRO

Congress could allocate up to $475 million for Great Lakes cleanup and restoration. A look at how the money would be spent:

Fighting invasives

The Great Lakes system has 180 invasive species that crowd out and could destroy native fish, wildlife and plants.

They include such plants as the purple loosestrife which, free of its back-home European insect predator, forms dense patches that frogs, muskrats and ducks can't use as suitable nesting and hiding sites or food.

One new invasive arrives every eight months from such sources as oceangoing commercial ships, recreational boat trailers, anglers' bait, gardeners and exotic pet owners.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would tackle the problem in part by developing and implementing ballast treatment systems for oceangoing vessels.
Researchers will compete for nearly $9 million in grants for projects to prevent, control and destroy invasives.

Scientists will also look for troublesome waterways that may need barriers, similar to the electric fence built at the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal to try to prevent the voracious Asian carp from moving from the Mississippi River into Lake Michigan.

Environmentalists also want to develop education and outreach programs for hunters, anglers and recreational boaters so they aren't unintentionally adding invasive species to the water system. Programs could include sterilizing buckets and boat trailers.

Habitat restoration

Commercial development, invasive species and dams have contributed to the loss of more than two-thirds of Great Lakes wetlands, sometimes called the "kidneys" of the system because they clean out pollutants from water as well as provide shelter for wildlife.

Environmentalists hope to eventually restore 500,000 acres of wetlands.

"If you don't restore the wetlands, you won't have fish to catch, ducks to hunt or wildlife to watch," said Gildo Tori, director of public policy at Ducks Unlimited. "It's not just about the wildlife. It's about tourism, recreation and the quality of life for residents."

The bill sets as a goal to fund protection and restoration of 23,000 acres of coastal, wetland, shoreline and upland habitats, as well as 1,000 miles of streams for fish passage.

Native species, which have either died out due to invasives or commercial development, must be replenished. For examples, grants will be awarded to plant wild rice.

Artificial reefs could be built to provide spawning habitat for fish, and aquatic grasses would be planted for fish to hide in.
Some land, including agricultural areas, is likely to be bought to restore earlier wetlands. Landowners will also be paid to make their property more wildlife-friendly.

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090831/LIFESTYLE14/908310319/5-targets-of-Great-Lakes-cleanup

Supporters hope Obama pledge will bring environmental, economic boost
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington -- Congress is poised to nearly double its funding commitment to the Great Lakes, adding up to $475 million for restoration that would deter invasive species, clean up polluted sites and create jobs in Michigan and the region.

Earth-mover Craig Hamlin is encouraged because a surge in federal funds could mean new business.

Since home building went bust in Michigan, Hamlin has kept his business going by digging up land to create wetlands instead of basements.

"Great Lakes work is pretty much all there is," said Hamlin, whose bulldozers, other heavy equipment and crews are transforming 70 acres of corn and bean farmland in Newport into a wetlands habitat for migratory birds along Lake Erie.

"These Great Lakes jobs affect a lot of people," added Hamlin of Hamlin Grading in Stockbridge. "Beyond my own workers, probably another 150 people end up getting work, by making pipes, or pumps and other materials we use."

The unprecedented amount of money being considered for the Great Lakes reflects President Barack Obama's pledge on the campaign trail of $5 billion for large-scale restoration.

Obama asked Congress for $475 million to get started. Already the federal government appropriates about $550 million a year to Great Lakes programs, which environmentalists expect will continue. If all goes as advocates hope, Congress would be committing about $1 billion to the Great Lakes in fiscal year 2010.

"This is a Great Lakes president," said Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, noting Obama built his career in Illinois. "He really cares about the Lakes because he knows them."

The House passed Obama's requested amount in June. The Senate seeks less money -- $400 million -- in a bill that could pass as early as mid-September.

Click here to read the entire article:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090831/LIFESTYLE14/908310371/$1-billion-proposed-in-2010-for-Great-Lakes-restoration

Summer surprise comes after heavy rains, snow
BY TINA LAM • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • AUGUST 4, 2008
After a parched summer last year that left docks stranded and boat propellers scraping sandy shallows, the Great Lakes are blissfully -- and surprisingly -- full again this year.

Heavy snow and rains since last winter have made the lakes rise. Scientists aren't sure whether this will last, but they're hopeful. The temperatures, moisture and ice cover next winter will be critical.

"If we get two more good, normal winters with normal precipitation, then we'd have a turnaround," said Cynthia Sellinger, deputy director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lake Superior, which beat its 1926 record low last fall, rebounded to within 4 inches of its long-term average in July. Lakes Erie and Ontario are 2 and 4 inches, respectively, above their July averages.

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS05/808040343

ERIC SHARP
JULY 6, 2008


On an average weekend last summer, Mitzie's Dockside Service in Ecorse sold 12,000 gallons of gasoline to boaters and on Monday had to call the fuel supplier to refill the tanks.

This boating season, Mitzie Hodgson said she barely sells 4,000 gallons in a full week, and she has put up the For Sale sign at her once-thriving business on the Detroit River.

From the icy waters of Lake Superior to the relatively balmy shores of Lake Erie, the marine industry and anglers alike are feeling the painful effects fuel prices over $4 per gallon and watercraft that burn anywhere from 10 to 100 gallons of fuel an hour.

And it's clear that anglers in small boats, those under 25 feet, are feeling the pinch more than the owners of bigger craft.

"We're probably down 5,000 launches from last year at this time," said George Campbell, who runs the Wyandotte Boat Ramp and Tackle Shop on the river 400 yards downstream from Mitzie's.

"On a weekday, we're launching 15, 20 boats where last year it would be 70, 80," he said. "And on weekends we're doing 30, 40 launches where we used to do 120."

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/SPORTS10/807060611/1058

Waste site planned north of Sarnia, stirring fears of water contamination

By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

An online petition drive launched to protest a proposed nuclear waste dump on Lake Huron has gathered 2,000 signatures in its first 24 hours.

Two groups, Progress Michigan and Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, initiated the petition drive to raise the prospect of water contamination posed by the waste site, which is planned for an Ontario location north of Sarnia.

The drive began Monday, in advance of the June 18 close of a "public comment period" offered by the Canadian government.

Rivers around the state are experiencing high water levels, especially in areas that received heavy rainfall over the last week. Panfish are being caught in shallow waters or near the drop offs. We should start to move into the summer fishing mode now that warmer weather is finally here.

Lake Erie - Is producing good catches of walleye in the 17 to 21 inch size range. Most anglers are using crawler harnesses on bottom bouncers while others are doing well on spoons and body baits. Most recently, the best fishing has been in 23 to 25 feet of water near Stony Point and straight out from Bolles Harbor around the E-Buoy.

Huron River - Water levels are up but the river is still fishable. Anglers are catching good numbers of smallmouth bass, catfish and carp. Those fishing below the dam are still taking some nice crappie on minnows.

Detroit River - White bass are still biting, but not with the same intensity.

Lexington - The salmon and lake trout are scattered in waters 30 to 100 feet deep. Perch were caught in 50 to 60 feet of water south of the port. Pier anglers have caught smallmouth bass, rock bass and other panfish.

ScienceDaily (Jun. 4, 2008) — A Michigan Technological University professor has developed a new water treatment that could help keep a deadly fish disease out of Lake Superior.

David Hand, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech, has devised a simple way to treat ballast water in vessels ranging from pleasure craft to ore boats. His method is designed to kill the virus that causes viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), an often-fatal disease that has been attacking fish populations in the lower Great Lakes.

Hand's treatment is simple. The ballast water is disinfected with sodium hypochlorite—ordinary household bleach. Then it is treated with ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, which neutralizes the bleach before the water is released into the lake.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080604104354.htm

U.S. officials say state's water, air at risk
BY TINA LAM • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • JUNE 6, 2008

• Environmental groups and U.S. officials are sounding alarms about two major new Canadian projects -- a heavy oil mega refinery along the St. Clair River and an underground radioactive waste repository near Lake Huron -- they say could put Michigan air and water at risk for decades.

Michigan residents and businesses won't benefit from the projects and are largely unaware of them. Opponents say U.S. concerns are not represented in Canada, where the prospect of new jobs makes locals welcome the projects.

Shell Canada plans a giant refinery along five miles of St. Clair River shoreline now dotted with farms and marinas, across from St. Clair and Marine City. The refinery would process up to 250,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil from rich tar sands in Alberta, making fuel for the Canadian market.

The new refinery would be more than twice the size of the Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit, which is seeking state permits to expand by 15% to 115,000 barrels per day.

Ontario nuclear officials are making plans to dig 2,150 feet underground to bury low- and medium-level radioactive waste from 20 nuclear plants for hundreds of years. The site is half a mile from Lake Huron, across the lake from Michigan's Thumb.

BY ERIC SHARP • FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER • MAY 29, 2008

We're using a three-weight fly rod and an ultralight spinning rod to cast a glass minnow fly and a small white bucktail jig at boils on the surface of the Detroit River, and every cast results in a strike and a hard fight.

The target is white bass, and we've located a big school of them off Lake Erie Metropark by watching for baitfish exploding through the surface as they were attacked by the white bass from below.

They aren't the biggest fish in the Great Lakes, but matched with the right tackle they are among the scrappiest.

Michigan's Free Fishing Weekends are two special days when all fishing license fees will be waived for residents and outstate visitors alike on both inland and Great Lakes waters. All fishing regulations will still apply.

Free Fishing Weekend events are sponsored by many communities, businesses, and conservation and fishing clubs. Click here, for a list of Michigan Free Fishing Weekend events.

National Boating and Fishing Week is June 1-8, 2008. Look on the "Take Me Fishing" website at www.takemefishing.org for additional activities not only in Michigan, but other states as well.

This spring brought the usual plaintive e-mails and telephone calls from readers asking if anyone knew where smelt were running. And the answer was the same as it has been for 10 years -- no one has seen any, and if you find some, please let the rest of us know.

It turned out that one exception was the northern Lake Huron coastline along the Canadian shore and the adjacent St. Marys River, where dippers enjoyed some excellent smelt runs.

That raised hopes that the silvery little fish might be making a comeback and provide spring sport for people and food for Lake Huron salmon whose numbers have been decimated by the disappearance of alewives.

Jeffrey Schaeffer, a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, has a different theory and says anglers shouldn't get their hopes up...

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/SPORTS10/805150408

Southeast Lower Peninsula

Lake Erie - Is very muddy and water temperatures have dropped into the 50 degree range. Walleye fishing was best between Stony Point and the Fermi Power Plant. Bottom bouncers were producing fish for those trolling or drifting. Good numbers of white bass are hitting on pretty much anything. Good catfish action continues near Consumers Hot Ponds.

Huron River - They are still getting some steelhead by the dams. Anglers fishing down from the walk bridge on the park side of the river were getting white bass and crappie on minnows. Walleye are hitting on Hot-n-Tots or crawlers.

Detroit River - Walleye are being caught in the lower Trenton Channel, near Wyandotte, and around Mud Island. Anglers are drifting Erie Dearies or trolling reef runners in 10 feet of water.

Lexington - Boats trolling in 15 to 40 feet of water caught trout and salmon on body baits or spoons. Pier anglers have caught small perch.

Click here for the entire fishing report:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364-34956--,00.html

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

LANSING -- Without a single dissenting vote, the state Senate and House voted Wednesday to include Michigan in a historic international compact designed to reserve all of the water in the Great Lakes for the eight states and two Canadian provinces surrounding them.

That doesn't quite cement Michigan's participation in the Great Lakes agreement, however, because the compact is linked to a series of additional House and Senate bills to regulate water usage within the state. There's still disagreement over House and Senate versions of those proposed rules.

"We're taking the first important step forward and we'll continue to negotiate the items of disagreement," said Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, the House point-person on the proposed water rules. "Being able to move the process forward proves that we're serious about this and able to get it done. If nothing else, it signals to the folks who are heavily invested in this that the time to come together and get an agreement is now."

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/METRO/805150385

Detroit FREE PRESS EDITORIAL

After 20 years of coping with zebra mussels, no comprehensive strategy is yet in place to deter the ongoing threat to the Great Lakes
MAY 11, 2008


That may be the truest -- and cruelest -- elegy delivered as the Great Lakes mark the 20th anniversary of the discovery of zebra mussels on June 1, 1988, in Lake St. Clair. It comes from Carol Stepien, a University of Toledo researcher who studies gobies -- another notorious invader -- and who has found at least 18 more goby varieties in Europe that would probably love to call the Great Lakes home.

Freshwater species that originated in tributaries around the Black and Caspian Seas seem to adore the Great Lakes, and various Eurasian species had been showing up since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to foreign ships in 1959. But most were microscopic plants and animals.

Zebra mussels showed how readily a bigger invader could not just survive, but thrive, threatening to wipe out some native species and alter the food web so drastically that even big lake fish no longer had enough food. It was not the first, it may not even be the worst, but it surely is the poster child for a problem that no one has yet had the will to address.

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200805110300/OPINION01/805110527

President George W. Bush has threatened to veto a House-passed bill that would make saltwater ships install systems that kill all living organisms in their tanks before dumping ballast in U.S. waters, including the Great Lakes.

There's no question this administration has one of the worst environmental records in history, drawing fire from conservative hunting and fishing groups as well as the usual ecological lefties, and that the bill the president threatens to veto is no more than a step in the right direction.

Yet anyone who fishes or goes boating in Michigan should contact both of our senators and tell them that the Senate needs to adopt the House bill quickly and send it to the White House with a veto-proof majority, because if nothing else, it's a start...

Click here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/SPORTS10/805040648

ERIC SHARP
Detroit River run provides legendary walleye fishing
APRIL 24, 2008

When Nick Homayed was a teenager fishing the Detroit River every chance he got, he figured that stretchy monofilament line was a major reason for missing the hook set when a walleye struck.

"So I spooled a reel with dental floss, and it really worked. I thought I was on to something," said Homayed, a Dearborn Heights angler who is one of the most knowledgeable walleye guides in the state...


Click Here for the entire article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/SPORTS10/804240402

The new regulations are now in effect starting April 1, 2008.

2008 Fishing Guide 2008 Trout and Salmon Guide

Each spring, volunteers statewide take to the field to listen for the calling of frogs and toads. While the chirps and croaks are a true harbinger of spring, the data the volunteers collect help us determine the status of these declining species. Click on the link above, or go to http://www.michigan.gov/frogsurvey.

Source: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153--189002--,00.html

From: Dan Keifer

Hello, Metro West members.

The status of the proposed water use legislation is that it is currently being debated in Lansing. Your legislators need to hear from steelhead/salmon fishermen and cottage owners right now.

This weekend and next week is VERY IMPORTANT timing to send your comments to your legislators. Indications are that the legislature will try to wrap up the deliberations and try to arrive at a consensus on the legislation in the next two weeks.

If you want steelhead and salmon out in the Great Lakes, it's time to speak up for the rivers and streams where they grow up as juveniles and return to spawn.

As you may know, the House and the Senate bills are very different in how they would implement the new set of rules and regulations over groundwater withdrawals in the state. The Senate version is very unfriendly to rivers and streams, and that includes the river stretches that support the spring and fall spawning runs of steelhead & salmon. Missing from these deliberations is the voice for "Water in its Place." That is, the importance of Michigan's water to stay where it is now...in its streams, lakes, and wetlands...for the multi-billion dollars of recreation, tourism and property values that make Michigan the unique state that it is.

The big water user pushing for the excessive limits of water use is the Farm Bureau. No, agricultural irrigation water does not all trickle back down to the aquifers. A significant amount of that water is taken up by crops. Whether it's in a pound of cherries, a sack of potatoes, or a gallon of ethanol, increased agricultural uses can mean lots of water leaving the state in finished agricultural products.

The critical period where groundwater withdrawals can most impact salmon/trout populations is in the warm, low flow summer months. The Senate version of this legislation would allow up to 25% of summer flows to be withdrawn...without any permitting process or any public input...and acknowledges that this would reduce trout populations. Making matters worse, this is mean monthly flow...meaning no restrictions on what might happen on any given day or days during the month. All current users/usages would be grandfathered...including all the lake-level control structures that affect streamflows in the Muskegon, the Platte, the Huron, the Clinton, and many more.

The "Groundwater Assessment Tool" is a great start at modern-day water management in Michigan. But, it's unproven science, and it is incomplete. It is based on an inventory of 11,000 stream segment types in the state. Yet, there are only 230 USGS streamflow gages operating in the state. If the summertime flow of water on a trout stream is signficantly reduced
by withdrawals in years to come, how will you or I or some other angler prove that it is excessive?

Have you fished a Michigan river in July, August, or September? If not, you have no idea how low these streams get...now, before any new rules. It is unimaginable to me that our state would enact water legislation that says it's ok to reduce stream flows by 25% in the summer months. Fish need habitat 100% of the time, not 99% of the time.

Will all of these dire things happen to the state's trout streams? We don't know. What we do know is that the Senate version of the legislation would provide no means for any member of the public (individuals, groups, property owners) to contest a proposed large-scale groundwater withdrawal. What we do know is that the package of laws being developed now will determine
how groundwater is used in Michigan for decades to come. All the circumstances argue to go slow and cautious as this gets implemented for the first time.

There are just too many unknowns to the consequences of such a far-reaching new set of regulations like this, to be comfortable with being so aggressive right out of the box. A lot of the good trout/salmon rivers will be unaffected...AuSable, Manistee, Pere Marquette. But, others could be really impacted because of where the are in the state and/or their unique
characteristics: The Muskegon and the smaller rivers in SW Michigan come to mind.

Below is my mid-March message on this issue. Its attachment is included on this message as well.

Let me know if you have any questions or need more information on this. If you need help figuring out who your legislators are (both Senate and House are important here), start with www.vote-smart.org and type in your zip code. Or, email me.

All you really have to say is that you are in favor of strong protection for Michigan's salmon/troutstreams, that you support the House version of the proposed legislation, and that you are opposed to the Senate version. Anything additional would just be icing on the cake.

Dan Keifer
Metro West Steelheaders Club
and Clinton River Watershed Council


Click here for the mid-March message

Great Lakes face algae, disease
BY TINA LAM • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • APRIL 11, 2008

EAST LANSING -- Lower lake levels, less ice cover, more algae, more invasive species and more waterborne diseases linked to sewer overflows after severe storms.

Those are among the dire forecasts about the impact of global warming on the Great Lakes from scientists who concluded two days of presentations Thursday at Michigan State University.

Some changes already are dramatic. Consider the speedy warming of Lake Superior, where water temperatures are rising twice as fast as air temperatures.

Still, the future effects of climate change are tough to predict at a local level, and most scientists said much more study is needed to understand how the region will change and how to plan for it.

The Great Lakes, the source of 18% of the world's fresh surface water, get far less funding for study than oceans do, they said.
One consensus of the scientists in attendance: Governments need to start planning for changes, such as lower lakes, storms and floods that could overwhelm existing sewer systems.

"We may have significantly lowered lake levels," said Steve Colman, professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Although many climate researchers say they think the Great Lakes region will be wetter and warmer in the future, lake levels still will decline because there will be less ice cover in winter, allowing more water evaporation, he said.

Warm winters a threat
Warmer winters have meant that ice doesn't form in some areas where it regularly had and doesn't form until much later in winter in other areas. Under either scenario, the exposed water is more easily sucked out of the lakes by winter's cold, dry air.

Colman said his research, and that of colleague Jay Austin, shows that less ice also means that the dark water absorbs more solar radiation, making the water warmer and leading to even less ice, in a perpetual loop.

What Colman and Austin have found on Lake Superior could be repeated on other lakes, Colman said.
"We could be at a tipping point," he said. "Less ice has huge effects. The lakes are very sensitive to it. The system is reacting in ways we wouldn't have expected."

The lakes also will see more cyanobacteria, a class of harmful algae that includes toxic forms, said Steve Wilhelm, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee. Algae blooms can smother fish and harm animals and humans.

"We already have major issues in the Great Lakes with these algae," he said.

Recent research shows that the algae grow faster at higher water temperatures, and more algae will survive and outcompete other algae and tiny creatures as temperatures rise.

Lake Erie, the warmest and shallowest, has had increasing amounts of algae, including toxic forms, in the past decade with warmer temperatures.
Meanwhile, cylindrospermopsis, a type of algae prevalent in Florida, now is established in the Great Lakes, Wilhelm said.

Even in winter, Wilhelm has found algae under the ice, as well as in open water.

"Algae blooms we used to see in the spring, we're now seeing in winter," he said.

As temperatures warm, Wilhelm predicts more dead zones in the lakes, which deprive fish and plants of oxygen.

Strong storms, more disease

The strong storms that climate modelers say Michigan and other Great Lakes states could get with climate change also bring a risk of spreading diseases, said Joan Rose, director of the Center for Water Sciences at MSU.

Rose's research shows a link between heavy rainfall and disease outbreaks nationally between 1948 and 1994. That's because sewer systems get swamped and overflow, carrying untreated sewage and agricultural waste into waterways.

Research also shows a link between strong El Niño winter storms in Florida and increased fecal and other bacteria in water.

In 2005, 1,500 people got sick on Lake Erie's South Bass Island after heavy rains inundated septic tanks and wells, spreading bacteria into drinking water.

Increasing storms, combined with higher temperatures that make it easier for pathogens to survive, could bring more disease outbreaks in the future, Rose said.

Governments need to invest in better sewage treatment and plan for the future by monitoring what happens to public health now, she said.
Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam@freepress.com.

ERIC SHARP
Border protection policy is fishing for more work
March 30, 2008

You may have heard that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will require fishermen to carry passports or other approved identification and check in with immigration upon returning from Canadian waters on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie, even if they don't touch land in Canada.

It's what you'd expect from the government that gave us the recovery plan for Hurricane Katrina: impractical, unenforceable, inconvenient, infuriating and expensive.

But if you're one of tens of thousands of local anglers who would be affected by this latest window dressing to create the illusion of national security, there's hope that sanity will prevail.

Chief Ron Smith of the agency's Detroit office has told his Washington headquarters that the plan is unenforceable and would create a bureaucratic nightmare.

"If we're going to require fishermen to check in every time they run a boat across that invisible border (on the water), we're going to have a problem," said Smith, adding that he hopes to have "clarification" of the requirement next week.

"The water boundary is our weakest link, but we need to make sensible decisions about how we protect it," Smith said. "I've been out on the Detroit River during the walleye season and have seen five, six rafts of boats with more than 100 boats in each raft. They're not anchored, just drifting down the river. How do we track all of them?

"I hope we get a decision (from Washington) by next week, because the walleye season is almost here again."

This mess started a couple of weeks ago when border patrol officials in Cleveland told local charter captains that if they entered Canadian waters on Lake Erie, they would have to file the same kind of paperwork required of large commercial ships transiting the lakes.

Besides the skipper and crew filling out paperwork and learning new rules before the season, charter captains also would have to fax in daily lists of their customers, including personal information such as citizenship and birthdates.

All passengers would have to carry passports or other approved official identification, and everyone aboard would have to check in with immigration upon returning to Ohio (after the skipper calls the border patrol at least an hour before returning to port).

It's the kind of goofy rules you'd expect from cubicle denizens who know little about the situation for which they are making the rules, bureaucrats who probably have never seen a fishing boat, never mind gone fishing.

Needless to say, it has not made the Ohio charter captains happy, or people on other parts of the Great Lakes who routinely pass through Canadian waters and have heard about the plan.

Meanwhile, Smith has been meeting Detroit-area boating groups and telling them that if they don't tie up to the Canadian shore, or land in Canada, they don't have to check in upon returning to the United States. He said that technically, the boaters should check in if they anchored in Canadian waters, but even that regulation hasn't been enforced because it doesn't make a lot of sense if the boaters anchor in the middle of a lake or river.

Smith is right about creating a bureaucratic nightmare. The border patrol simply doesn't have the boats and agents it would take to make this law effective.

If anglers want to see these rules repealed, I suspect the easiest way would be to follow them. How many hundreds of calls a day is the border patrol equipped to handle?

After all, what good is this law going to serve? If a group of anglers merely leaves the United States, motors into Canadian waters and then comes back, what does checking in do to make us safer? And if the boaters are terrorists or people smugglers who make an illegal landing in Canada, do you think they will check in upon returning?

Unless the border patrol is prepared to track the movements of a significant percentage of the boats on our waters, this latest plan is simply another government boondoggle.

There's hope: Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, has asked the Natural Resources Commission to rescind a rule that bans the shooting of all-white deer.

Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com.

Fish Farmer Magazine: http://www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

USA: Genetics research sheds light on Great Lakes’ fish virus

24 January, 2008 -
A DEVASTATING virus that has killed thousands of fish in the Great Lakes over the past few years is different from other strains of the same virus found in Europe and the West Coast of the United States, according to new genetic research by the US Geological Survey.

The Great Lakes' strain of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is the only strain outside of Europe that has been associated with significant die-offs of freshwater fish species.

VHSV is a rhabdovirus that is the causative agent of one of the most dangerous viral diseases of fish, says Dr Jim Winton, a fisheries scientist at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Centre (WFRC) in Seattle. The virus belongs to a family of viruses that includes rabies. The disease causes internal bleeding in fish, but is not harmful to people.

Winton and co-authors Gael Kurath and William Batts recently authored a new USGS fact sheet that describes important genetic information about isolates of VHSV from the Great Lakes region. Other strains of the VHS virus are found in continental Europe, North Pacific Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea and North Sea.

"This Great Lakes strain appears to have an exceptionally broad host range," said Winton. "Significant die-offs have occurred in
muskellunge, freshwater drum, yellow perch, round goby, emerald shiners and gizzard shad."

Genetic research at the WFRC and by colleagues from Canada showed that this strain of the virus was probably introduced into the Great Lakes in the last five to 10 years, and that the fish die-offs occurring among different species and in different lakes should be considered as one large ongoing epidemic. The USGS genetic research also indicated that the Great Lakes' strain of the virus was not from Europe, where three other strains of the virus occur, but more likely had its origin among marine or estuarine fish of the Atlantic seaboard of North America. The strain is genetically most like samples of VHSV recovered during 2000-2004 from diseased fish in areas of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Great Lakes' strain has now been isolated from more than 25 species of fish in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Saint Lawrence River and from inland lakes in New York, Michigan and Wisconsin. Experts fear the disease could potentially spread from the Great Lakes into new populations of native fish in the 31 states of the Mississippi River basin. Also, if VHS virus is introduced into the aquaculture industry, it could lead to trade restrictions as well as direct
losses from the disease.

Regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada have already placed restrictions on the movement of fish or fish products that could pose a risk for the spread of VHS virus to regions outside of the known geographic range. These restrictions include requirements for viral examinations by standard methods.


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Monday, January 7, 2008
A nation's growing thirst threatens a Great Lakes water war
Lawmakers battle to protect the region's key resource
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News

As drought-plagued states cast a jealous eye toward Michigan's abundant supply of freshwater, local lawmakers are scrambling -- unsuccessfully so far -- to fend off efforts to siphon from the Great Lakes.

A regional effort to enact legislation giving the eight Great Lakes states more control over water diversion is languishing in several states, with only two -- Minnesota and Illinois -- giving full approval so far.

Committees in both the Michigan House and Senate have passed versions of the compact, and officials hope a unified version will be on the governor's desk before the end of January.

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But delays in legal protection for the Great Lakes states could prove costly, especially as the waterways sink to all-time lows set in 1965.

Among the recent threats:

• In October, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson of New Mexico created an uproar when he described Wisconsin as being "awash in water" and called for a "national water policy." He later softened his remarks, but the comment triggered a national debate that cast more scrutiny on the Great Lakes.

• A Georgia congressman has proposed a national water commission that would put the federal government in charge of Great Lakes water, an idea that Michigan lawmakers oppose.

• Experts say the 2010 U.S. census recalculation could shift political power out of some of the Midwest states such as Michigan to water-hungry states in the South and West, making it harder for the Great Lakes to keep its water here.

It's a scenario that worries some Michigan residents.

"I don't think we ought to be sending our water to anybody," said Paul Sapp, a 72-year-old Mecosta resident who said he's seen local water levels drop due to withdrawals from the Muskegon River for a bottled water plant. "They all moved down (to the Southeast and Southwest) to stay warm. If they're thirsty, they can move back."
Water levels already low

Much of the talk of diversion centers on increasing the outflow of water from Lake Michigan through the Chicago River to the Mississippi.

A study conducted decades ago examined the possibility of a pipe network from the western side of Lake Superior through the northern Great Plains, but the project was deemed too expensive.

Several of the Great Lakes are already in the midst of extended stretches of low levels.

Lake Superior's September average level was 1.6 inches lower than the previous record for the month set in 1926. Huron and Michigan are losing water three times faster than previously believed, according to a study by a Canadian homeowners group.

Lakes Michigan and Huron declined by their usual 2 inches in December and now sit a whopping 26 and 13 inches, respectively, below the Jan. 1 level of last year. Experts think it's possible both lakes could beat their all-time record lows, set in March 1964, when the January monthly average level is figured at month's end.

Some experts believe new diversions will only worsen a bad situation. A report released last week says Lake Superior is holding its own and seems to be recovering from a drought that dropped the lake to alarming levels. It now sits 11 inches below the long-term average, but is 6 inches above the level of one year ago, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control.

Some Michigan residents said they have reservations about sending water to other regions. But their feelings harden markedly when they think about the way water is used in some of those places.

One such example is the Waveyard water sports complex recently approved for a 125-acre property east of Phoenix. In a state where a lack of rainfall and increasing demand for water exacerbate a decade-long drought, the new park will use 100 million gallons of groundwater a year.

Noah Hall, a diversion expert for the National Wildlife Federation and an assistant law professor at Wayne State University, says projects like Waveyard indicate a need to change the way we think.

"It's a ridiculous proposal," Hall said. "It shows, first of all, that before we start talking about diverting water from the Great Lakes, there is a great deal we could be doing in terms of conservation and common sense."

Outside this region, some see the water in the Great Lakes as a national resource. That troubles U.S Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who opposes attempts to create a national commission to oversee America's water issues. The commission proposal is being driven by U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Georgia Republican.

Linder has said he does not want to see the commission dictate policy to the Great Lakes states. But Miller acknowledged in an interview that "it's not secret that I view this effort with a lot of suspicion."

"I believe John Linder is sincere in that he's not interested in diversions," Miller said from her Washington, D.C., office. "But when you get a piece of legislation like this moving in this town, there are a lot of people who are looking to take it and run with it."

Legislatively, there are protections in place and pending designed to keep water from leaving the basin, but experts say they are not rock-solid assurances.

The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 gave governors in the eight Great Lakes states authority to veto diversions from the lakes.

But that might not be enough to ensure the water stays put, according to one expert. "There have always been legal and constitutional questions surrounding the veto power of the governors with that act," said David Naftzger, executive director of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

In 2005, governors from each of the states in the region -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- drew up the Great Lakes Basin Water Resource Compact to prevent that scenario. If approved -- by the eight states and then the Congress -- it would prohibit Great Lakes water from being diverted outside the basin. But so far, not all of the legislatures have signed on.

And while a congressionally approved compact could technically still be overturned, Hall said doing so would require precedent-setting action.

"Congress has never retroactively revoked or rescinded an interstate water agreement," he said.

The Great Lakes Compact is generally considered the strongest legal tool the region's states have, and many experts believe each of the governments involved will pass it within the next few years. Yet time is of the essence.
Clout likely to diminish

Political clout in the Great Lakes states will likely be diminished following the 2010 census, when the region's population loss will translate into a smaller federal delegation.

"Right now the word on the street is that Michigan will definitely lose one seat (in the U.S. House of Representatives)," said Kurt Metzger, research director at United Way of Southeastern Michigan.

So who stands to gain political power?

"The areas of current water stress and shortage match up with the greatest population growth -- places like the Southeast and Southwest," Naftzger said. Southern states experiencing drought conditions, such as Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, will likely gain at least one seat each.

It's a scenario that has many in this region looking to expedite approval of the Great Lakes Compact.

"We've got to get this done now," Hall said. "We have a window of time here. By 2020, we could lose 30 or 40 (U.S. House) seats if the population trends continue."

You can reach Jim Lynch at (586) 468-0520 or jlynch@detnews.com.