Great Lakes Blogger

Good News in the Great Lakes Tonight

It's about the comeback of the lake sturgeon.

A Look at Asian Carp

The commotion over the now likely invasion of Asian carp makes it timely to look at who these fish are and why they're a concern.

As the U.S. EPA notes, two species of Asian carp are of concern, bighead and silver. The EPA notes the fish "are a significant threat to the Great Lakes because they are large, extremely prolific, and consume vast amounts of food. They can weigh up to 100 pounds, and can grow to a length of more than four feet. They are well-suited to the climate of the Great Lakes region, which is similar to their native Asian habitats"

Might they disrupt the already troubled food web of the Great Lakes fishery? Perhaps. One fear is that they will gobble up the forage fish on which desirable Great Lakes sport fish, including salmon and lake trout, depend. There will probably be other effects.

The EPA page is generally excellent, but its discussion of how the carp came to the U.S. is clouded. There is no mention that EPA itself may have encouraged the introduction of the carp, as Eric Sharp suggests.

One commenter on a post I did elsewhere also raised an issue.

Bighead and silver carp did NOT originally escape during flooding of the early 90s. The first silver carp was captured from the wild in 1972! Bigheads were abundant in the late 1980s. There may have been some ponds that flooded in the '93 flood, but the only reason there “is agreement” that this happened is because it sounds logical to the uninformed and that it has been so often repeated in the media that it is common (although probably incorrect) knowledge. There was a farm that flooded later, on the Osage River, but that was after the fish were already well established. The most logical reason for the escape of bighead and silver carp is carelessness, not the capriciousness of mother nature.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife info page is here.

Michigan DEQ/DNR Reorganization

I'm writing up a piece on the merger of Michigan DEQ/DNR.  E-mail thoughts or comments here welcome (including from the masterminds).  E-mail:  [email protected].

Twin Cities Air Quality Index Sky High (or Low)

An inversion is keeping clouds low and soot high...close to the unhealthy level for all groups (reading is 144; threshold is 150).

Fixing the Great Lakes Compact

Apparently there is a misunderstanding over whether a property owner also "owns" the groundwater flowing beneath his or her land. He or she does not, but Russell Harding, former Michigan DEQ Director, thinks so. With his usual perspicuity. If he were right, there wouldn't have been a Nestle water heist case in Michigan. Property owners have a right to use, not ownership of both groundwater and surface water.

So fix the Compact by making that clear.

Getting the Federal Great Lakes House in Order

It's not so much who is running the Great Lakes; it's who at the federal level has the passion and clout to compel all and any federal actors to prevent disasters like Asian carp?

No Bang for the Buck

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative RFP expressly rules out funding for land conservancy projects, aka vital habitat conservation. That's unwise, to say the least.

Ineligible Activities.  Under this RFP, EPA will not fund: water infrastructure projects that are addressed under the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; basic research; land acquisition; remediation of contaminated sediments; or projects the principal purpose for which is general operating support.

Carp, PCBs, Phosphorus

What's going on in the Great Lakes this morning?

Asian carp threat is a "monumental government screwup." This piece contains the best short history of how it all began.

Mysterious PCBs in Chicago from paint?

Congressman Stupak goes after phosphorus.

Air Quality Problem

Minneapolis-St. Paul tops 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) on the air quality index, thanks (or no thanks) to particle (alias soot) pollution. Problem areas in Wisconsin, too.

It Was Cold Here in October, So There's Global Cooling, Right?

I dunno. This graphic from the National Climatic Data Center must be part of Al Gore's conspiracy.