Water
Volunteer water monitoring program seeks new support
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Unless the Michigan legislature passes the governor’s proposed landfill fee bump, a program that’s recruited volunteers to test streams and lakes for 40 years will be terminated in 2019.
Birds
People can once again kill cormorants
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The controversial waterfowl can destroy habitats and property, but researchers say cormorant culls can hurt the other bird species they’re meant to protect.
Echo
Mercury’s match: sex hormones?
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Male sex hormones like testosterone help battle mercury contamination in Great Lakes fish, researchers say.
Echo
Federal budget proposal dredges up fight for Sea Grant
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A coastal protection program that generated an estimated $86.9 million in economic impact across six Great Lakes offices in 2016 has again been zeroed out in the federal budget proposal after strong lawmaker support successfully restored funding to the program for 2018.
Birds
Piping plovers return to Lake Erie
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A single pair of the shorebirds nested along the lake last summer for the first time in 60 years. They’re an encouragement to the wildlife managers who are reclaiming the plover’s old habitat.
Wildlife
Fishery managers excited by lake trout’s not-so-picky palate
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Researchers say lake trout have flexible diets–calming fears that the resurgent species is competing with salmon for the dwindling supply of alewife in the Great Lakes.
Fish
Video: slow-motion sturgeon feeding
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Sturgeons project their jawbones from their skulls, creating the suction they need to vacuum food from lake beds.
environmental politics
Local agencies want federal tools with teeth to tackle Lake Erie pollution
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Toledo and Lucas County officials are leading the fight to curb Ohio’s algae-feeding pollutants. It’s a role they say should be played by the U.S. EPA.
Fish
Saginaw Bay perch populations up against the wall(eye)
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Walleye populations in Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay have bounced back powerfully, just a few decades after they came close to disappearing. Some scientists worry that perch are paying the price.
Fish
Hurricane recordings point to possible future for Great Lakes monitoring
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Great Lakes researchers hope that year-long recording of underwater sounds near Puerto Rico could lead to similar recording of fish and other watery sounds here.