Echo
Efforts to bolster lake herring populations in Lake Huron may be stunted by deadly disease
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The bolstering of lake herring in Lake Huron may be stunted by an emerging fatal fish disease.
Wildlife
Great Lakes eels are a conservation challenge
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Something slithers beneath the surface of the Great Lakes and it’s not a sea lamprey.
It might look similar, but the mysterious American eel isn’t a sucker.
And it’s in trouble. Its population is decreasing dramatically and no one is sure why.
Wildlife
Volunteers fight plant invaders, sturgeon poachers
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Environmental agencies and organizations are enlisting the public’s help to protect native species and get rid of invasive ones.
Land
Entrepreneur gives Chicago meatpacking plant a sustainability makeover
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This Chicago resident envisions fish and plants as central to an accelerator for urban food production.
He hopes his recycled meatpacking factory grows food and supports urban farming pioneers.
Water
Great Lakes aquaponics farm receives recognition from New York Times
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A Milwaukee aquapoinics company was recognized this week in the “Energy and Environment” section of the New York Times. Save Water Organics was featured in a story about raising fish while growing water-based plants at the same time. The plants are grown on top of the fishpond. The fish waste supplies the plants with fertilizer, and the plants filter the water for the fish. While the story came out of London, the writer focused on the techniques used at Sweet Water.
Wildlife
Slimy fish complicates lake trout restoration in Great Lakes
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Burbot, a native Great Lakes fish species, are slimy, big-mouthed bottom feeders. They’re also threatened in many parts of the world. They’ve recovered in the Great Lakes, but that could mean trouble for plans to restore lake trout.
Wildlife
Commercial fishing operators, scientists study Great Lakes whitefish fluctuations
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Three years shy of his family’s 100th year fishing for Lake Michigan whitefish, Paul Jensen rarely meets his quota.
Wildlife
We don’t hate sturgeon
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Echo reader Stephanie Ariganello pointed out a typo in Thursday’s Great Links section: “Volunteers sought to protest sturgeon in Michigan – Detroit Free Press”
She writes: “Those pesky sturgeon. We ought to be having rallies against them alright, with their snotty prehistoric scutes and their smarmy shark-like fins. Whether it was a simple mis-typing or subconscious comment on someone’s part, not sure. But I believe it should be ‘protect.’”
It was a simple typo, I swear. We like to be transparent about our biases around Echo. And I feel fairly confident that no one on the staff has it in for sturgeon.
Echo
Great Lakes waterfront report: Progress stymied on fish consumption
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A recent report rates Michigan’s progress in lowering the risk of eating fish as poor.
Officials blame the failure to reduce the atmospheric deposition of mercury and on PCB contaminants. And stormwater runoff and sewage overflows are an increasing concern.
Echo
Asian carp and the Great Lakes fishery: How much is at risk?
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Which Great Lakes fishery do the Asian carp threaten? The $7 billion one or the $4.5 billion one? Does that include the commercial fishery? What about Canada?
A couple natural resource economists help us settle up.