Gobies invade streams, inland lakes

Muskegon News

Dan O'Keefe was fishing for salmon in the Pentwater River recently when he caught a foreign fish that has become a scourge in the Great Lakes and a harbinger of destructive changes.

O'Keefe landed a round goby, a menacing little fish that transoceanic freighters imported to the Great Lakes in ballast water in the late 1980s. The species, which is native to the Black and Caspian seas in eastern Europe, has harmed some native fish species and disrupted fishing at numerous sites around the lakes.

Having conquered the lakes, gobies are now extending their range to rivers and inland lakes across the region that flow into lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario. Gobies have been spotted in rivers in all eight states around the Great Lakes, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Several scientists said they aren't sure how goby invasions will affect fisheries in rivers and inland lakes. But they fear the worst.

"The presence of gobies doesn't mean the end of salmon or any other fish -- but it's something to be concerned about," said O'Keefe, a biologist and southwest Michigan district educator for the Michigan Sea Grant program. "Their effects could actually be worse in rivers than in lakes."

Gobies have been found in portions of all five Great Lakes. Researchers recently spotted the fish far upstream in several Michigan rivers, including the Grand, Muskegon, Pentwater, Jordan, Kalamazoo, Flint and Shiawassee.

The invader's colonization of inland lakes and rivers is significant because the bug-eyed fish competes with perch and other native species. The pugnacious imports eat the eggs of other fish species and are known to chase larger fish away from nesting sites.

The only benefit gobies provide is that they eat large quantities of zebra and quagga mussels -- up to 78 per day, per fish.

Experts have said the problems gobies cause far outweigh any benefits the invaders provide. Gobies multiply rapidly and suppress native fish populations; they've also been linked to an outbreak of avian botulism that has killed more than 70,000 fish-eating birds in the Great Lakes over the past decade.

The sheer number of gobies in some areas is staggering.

Researchers several years ago estimated there were 10 billion gobies in western Lake Erie. Gobies account for half of all fish in Muskegon Lake each spring, before migrating into Lake Michigan for the summer, according to scientists at Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute.

David Jude, a University of Michigan research ecologist who discovered gobies in the Great Lakes, said he is concerned the invaders could disrupt some of Michigan's finest trout streams, including the Jordan River and Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Muskegon River.

Gobies have decimated populations of bottom-dwelling insects in parts of the Shiawassee River, in eastern Michigan, Jude said. Those insects, called benthos, provide food for many species of fish and other aquatic organisms. more

Sleeping Bear Dunes could add trail

Detroit Free Press

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore could be in line for a makeover that includes a 35-mile hiking trail and the setting aside of 45% of the land as protected, roadless wilderness.

The federal parkland headquartered at Empire in the northwestern Lower Peninsula contains some of Lake Michigan’s most striking coastline.

Federal officials said they expect to approve the changes as part of a new management plan before year’s end.

The plan is designed to “offer some improvements to visitor access and recreational opportunities, but still provide a wilderness recreational experience, mostly in places that are currently providing that,” said park Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich.

The planned Bay-to-Bay Trail would stretch along 35 miles of shoreline from Platte Bay to Good Harbor Bay, although the specific path remains to be determined.

It would include a hiking path with intermittent campgrounds so hikers could complete multi-day trips, Ulrich told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

But Martha Acton is among some property owners expressing concerns, saying they want to make sure the proposed trail doesn’t infringe on their land rights. more

USS Freedom Commissioned in Milwaukee - 1st Warship built on Great Lakes since WWII

The crew of USS Freedom (LCS 1) ushered in a new era in naval warfare, Nov. 8 as the ship was brought to life at Milwaukee's Veterans Park before a crowd of nearly 10,000.

The ship was officially placed in commission by Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, who remarked the Navy was commissioning not just Freedom but a new class of naval war ships.

"In this platform we are making the right investments in our future security and in our prosperity," Winter said. "For those of you who will have the privilege of serving in Freedom you will play a leading role in protecting our nation's interest and in ensuring stability of the global economy. You will also be called upon to serve in a ship whose namesake defines the very aspirations of the American people and of people the world over."

Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, said Freedom will never have a more important crew than its first one, for they are the ones that set the tone and standards that will endure.

Freedom also represents a new concept in how and where the Navy is going to operate in executing the Maritime Strategy.

"USS Freedom will sail as an instrument of that strategy. Hers will be the march of the mind, with the spear and the shield, she will proclaim and insure the freedom of the seas and the freedom of the nation," Roughead said.

Freedom is an innovative combatant designed to operate quickly in shallow water environments to counter challenging threats in coastal regions, specifically mines, submarines and fast surface craft.

Following the Secretary's commissioning, the ship's two commanding officers, Cmdr. Donald Gabrielson, Blue Crew and Cmdr. Michael Doran, Gold Crew, took command, set the first watch and raised the ensign.

The first ensign flown over the ship had previously been flown over Baghdad. After its ceremonial unfurling, it was hauled down and presented to the ship's sponsor, Birgit Smith, in honor of her late husband's sacrifice in defense of freedom. Smith is the wife of Army Sgt. First Class Paul Smith, who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Clutching the American flag and flanked by the ship's two commanding officers and two senior enlisted leaders, Smith tearfully gave the order to the crew of Freedom, "man our ship and bring her to life."

For the crew, the commissioning was the culmination of three years of hard work.

"It is great to be part of a first of class new ship that is outfitted with 21st century technology," said Mineman 1st Class (SW) Jeff Steele, who has been with the crew since July 2006. "We have worked long and hard for this day and to bring her to life and go out and operate."

A fast, agile, and high-technology surface combatant, Freedom will act as a platform for launch and recovery of manned and unmanned vehicles. more

Historic shipwrecks to be remembered

Detroit Free Press

Monday marks the 33rd anniversary of the often-chronicled sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. But this month also marks a landmark 50th anniversary of another famous Great Lakes shipwreck -- the Carl D. Bradley in Lake Michigan.

The Detroit Historical Society is holding its annual remembrance for Great Lakes mariners lost at sea on the Fitzgerald anniversary, but this year, the activities will focus on the Bradley and include newly displayed artifacts from the lost ship.

"It's a reminder of the storms of November," said local lake historian Mac McAdam of Dearborn. "Everybody is trying to make their last run before the winter locks them in. They're running fast and hard now."

No one knows exactly how many ships have gone down in the Great Lakes.

"Many of the boats weren't documented, so when they were lost, no one knew," said Joel Stone, curator of the historical museum.

A hundred years ago, there were thousands of ships traveling the lakes. "Now there's less than 100," Stone said. "We tend to forget there's a lot going on out there."

The Fitzgerald may well be the most famous Great Lakes wreck, thanks to Lightfoot's song. On Nov. 10, 1975, the Fitzgerald and its crew of 29 were running for their lives across Lake Superior in nearly 60 m.p.h. winds with hurricane-force gusts. The waves were 35 feet high.

"One of the worst seas I've ever been in," reported Capt. Ernest McSorley, in one of his last transmissions. It was just 17 miles short of the safety of Whitefish Bay when the ship disappeared. All rescuers ever found was debris, including useless lifeboats and life preservers.

Ironically, the Fitzgerald replaced the Bradley as the largest freighter on the lakes when it was launched in 1958, the same year the Bradley sank.

The Bradley's owners planned an $800,000 overhaul during the winter, but what was to be the last voyage of the season turned out to be the last voyage ever.

The Bradley was about 60 miles northwest of Charlevoix on Nov. 18, plowing through another fierce November storm with a crew of 35.

A strange noise caught Capt. Roland Bryan's attention at 5:31 p.m. He looked down and saw his ship breaking apart, the aged metal no match for the storm's assault.

Fourteen minutes later, the Bradley broke in two, plunging men and lifeboats into the water. First Mate Elmer Fleming and watchman Frank Mays were lucky. more

Red Mill Pond dam project now in works

News Dispatch

Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave a presentation Thursday that outlined a proposed project to modify and stabilize a dam at Red Mill Pond.

The Red Mill Pond Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Restoration Project includes removing a section of the dam at the emergency spillway, creating a new channel from the pond to the Little Calumet River and other features.

The project will stabilize the failing dam structure and provide a more natural flow to the area while preserving wetlands.

"The Army Corps of Engineers is looking forward to working with La Porte County Parks to help preserve the near 160 acres of high-quality wetlands at Red Mill Pond Mill," said Frank Veraldi, project planner.

Approval on the preliminary restoration project was given in March 2007. After the public meeting Thursday, the public comment section is still open until Nov. 14.

The project time line calls for the planning design and analysis to be complete in January and receive project approval in June. The project is expected to be complete by January 2011. more

Michigan aims to hit the ground running with Great Lakes Plan

Bay City Times

Michigan is not about to let President-elect Barack Obama and newly elected congressmen rest upon their laurels.

The Great Lakes State is preparing to hold them to a promise to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

Obama, a Chicagoan who lives on Lake Michigan's southwestern shore, along with his presidential opponent Sen. John McCain of Arizona, signed a pledge this year to support the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration strategy of 2005.

Commissioned by President George Bush in 2004 and drafted by more than 100 Great Lakes groups, the plan proposed $20 billion worth of work to finally restore the Great Lakes. Once through the 2004 election, Bush cynically turned his back on the report, and the lakes.

But the eight states in the Great Lakes Basin plowed ahead, doing what they could. Significantly, they ratified and got Congress to pass the Great Lakes Basin Compact, protecting the freshwater seas from large-scale withdrawals of water.

In addition, Michigan began clearing a path on its own toward solutions of some vexing Great Lakes problems. The federal government adopted Michigan's model on banning ballast water discharges from freighters that can and do spread invasive species throughout the lakes.

This summer, our state's leaders began preparing for the new occupant of the White House - both men running for election to the presidency were on record in support of the Great Lakes Collaboration strategy.

Lt. Gov. John D. Cherry Jr., throughout this month, is holding public meetings around Michigan in search of specific needs for Great Lakes restoration. The ideas he gathers will be part of the Michigan Great Lakes Plan, written by the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, and due by the end of the year.

The priorities that people stated for the Saginaw Bay area at two meetings that the lieutenant governor held on Oct. 23 at Saginaw Valley State University are all too obvious.

Invasive species such as zebra mussels and phragmites, beach muck, water quality, combined sewage overflows and urban and rural runoff top the local list.

They all are issues that local people have grappled with, and have prodded state officials for action. But their solution is beyond the meager resources of a perpetually broke state government. more

Low-volt jolt: Carp barrier ready, but can't be operated at peak strength

Journal Sentinel

The man in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers' electric Asian carp barrier says it looks like the $9 million contraption is ready to be turned on, but not at a power level biologists say is necessary to actually stop all sizes of fish.

That means the door to the world's largest freshwater system will remain cracked open to the giant filter-feeding fish that could ruin the Great Lakes' multibillion dollar fishing industry, ravage their ecology and threaten recreational opportunities such as water skiing because of their dangerous penchant for hurtling out of the water when agitated by the whir of a boat motor.

The fish have already overwhelmed stretches of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and have migrated to within about 15 miles of the barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

The electric gate was finished in early 2006, but aside from testing, the Corps has refused to turn it on because of worries about the dangers the electrified water could pose to barge operators and pleasure boaters plying the manmade waterway that links Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.

On Oct. 31, the eight Great Lakes governors wrote the Army Corps and U.S. Coast Guard seeking answers. The letter followed an Oct. 5 Journal Sentinel story showing about $1 million of the $9 million so far spent on the project has gone toward more than two years of safety tests and other work to make the barrier safer. Yet despite all that effort, the federal government still wouldn't say when - or even if - the barrier would ever be activated. Now the Army Corps says it looks like it's ready to finally flip the switch.

"I think it's probably ready to go," Chuck Shea, barrier project manager for the Army Corps, said last week. "We've done a lot of tests, and recent results appear fairly promising."

But there is a catch: At this point the Corps would allow the barrier to operate at only about one quarter of its maximum power, or one volt per inch. That is the strength of a smaller "temporary" barrier currently operating in the canal at a level that biologists agree is not strong enough to permanently keep the carp out of the lakes. That is also the level the Corps promised the barge industry it would not exceed in a 2006 agreement allowing the new barrier to be turned on in an emergency if the temporary barrier fails, according to documents the Journal Sentinel obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Barge industry leaders fear that operating the barrier any higher than one volt per inch poses too much of a risk for sparking between barges, or for anyone who might fall overboard.

Power struggles

The Corps and Coast Guard say they still need more studies to determine if the barrier is safe to operate at its maximum power level of four volts per inch, but the one volt per inch level should be enough to protect the lakes from the supersized carp dubbed the 100-pound zebra mussel because of its ability to vacuum nutrients from the water.

The science says otherwise.

A throttled-down new barrier should repel larger adult fish, but little juvenile fish are less affected by electric currents and therefore need a bigger shock, according to laboratory research.

Shea said last week that the new barrier was always designed to operate at a "base" of one volt per inch and would be turned up to four volts only "if smaller fish become a concern in the future."

That's news to members of the advisory panel of scientists that has been helping the Corps get the barrier built.

"It was my impression that it was designed to operate at four volts per inch," said Phil Moy, a former Army Corps employee who now works for UW Sea Grant and is co-chair of the barrier advisory panel.

Panel member Irwin Polls said increasing the voltage was a major reason to build the new barrier in the first place.

"I do not remember anyone from the Corps mentioning that (the new barrier) would only operate at a higher voltage if young fish were present in the area," said Polls, a consultant who previously worked as a biologist for the Chicago sewer district.

Indeed, the Corps' own documents from 2006 note that the new barrier "will be operated at higher field strength, four volts per inch versus one volt per inch for the temporary barrier." more

Wolfe Island Wind Farm Project set to deliver power by spring

Just after Thanksgiving, specialists from countries including Canada, Norway, and Australia laid approximately 8,000 metres of submarine electrical cable to connect Ontario’s Wolfe Island Wind Farm Project to the mainland.

The installation of the cable, believed to be the world’s first designed to carry 230 kilovolts under water, is a significant step in the activation of 86 wind turbines on the island, located directly opposite the City of Kingston at the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.

The $450-million turbine project began construction in the summer, and is being developed by the Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc.

Supplies are being transported to island via barge, with construction materials shipped from Kingston, and turbine parts shipped from Ogdensburg, New York, where they arrived from Denmark.

“The barges are our lifeline, bringing workers, cement and rebar to the island every day,” says Mike Jablonicky, Site Supervisor for the project.

A temporary batch plant has been constructed on the island to supply ready-mixed concrete to pour the huge bases required to anchor the turbines. Fresh water is drawn from Lake Ontario to complete the mix.

When complete, each unit will stand 125 metres tall, including the length of the extended blades.

Construction of the wind-driven units is being done in phases, with bases constructed at a measured pace ahead of turbines, and access roads constructed ahead of bases.

“We’ve completed 19 bases and have just finished installing the first turbine,” says Jablonicky. more