Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/great-lakes/page/2/)
How the shape of the Great Lakes now compares with their past is important as negotiators update the consent decree addressing commercial and recreational fishing interests in waters covered by an 1836 treaty. The deadline is at the end of June, the third such decree covering these contentious waters. The most recent one in 2000 was for 20 years, and it’s overdue for an update.
The impact that quagga mussels have on the Great Lakes food web gives deep meaning to the saying, ‘food for thought.’ These prodigious filter-feeders are implicated in the decline of many Great Lakes fish species, well beyond those with commercial and recreational value.
The food web in lakes Michigan and Huron has changed in ways that jeopardize age-old fishing traditions and raise questions about how we’ve managed them. Now negotiators are updating a legal settlement that spells out where and how much lake whitefish and lake trout can be harvested.
Regions 30 miles off the Lake Michigan coast are subject to a polluted lake breeze that contaminates air quality. Their toxic reach varies depending on the weather.
After a two-year hiatus, Great Lakes cruise ships are back, and the industry is trying to prepare itself. Cruise companies will start expeditions in May and end them in October.
Some trails break out of the woods at a lake. Some climb a dune to a sweeping view. And many – more than you probably thought – lead to a shipwreck with a story on a beach.
Global warming will produce more frequent high rainfall events in the Upper Great Lakes, which could impact sandy beaches used for recreation.
A Harvard historian’s book about slavery in Detroit- – the last stop on the Underground Railroad – examines how that history was influenced by the region’s geography.
Michigan Sea Grant recently announced four new research projects with one common goal — protecting the Great Lakes. It committed almost $1 million to the projects, including $225,000 from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. In addition, university research partners contributed over $500,000 in matching funds. Their major topics are water use, walleye, invasive mussel larvae and harmful algae blooms.
As the megadrought in the Western U.S. worsens, calls for freshwater diversions from the Great Lakes to the West have grown increasingly popular. Water diversion from the Great Lakes harms not only the ecosystem, but also the cultural significance of water, according to Michigan environmental policy expert.