Save Our Resource

[mrymar]

We have to somehow unite and tackle the shipping industry.
Captain Dick Smith pretty much sums it up best:
http://www.great-lakes.org/Wkly_news/11-27-06.html#Save_our_Lakes-Shut_down_St._Lawrence_Seaway
VHS has been found in:
Lake Huron - lake whitefish, walleyes and Chinook salmon.
Lake St. Clair Muskie
Lake Ontario - gizzard shad, Gobies
This disease KILLS - muskellunge, smallmouth bass, northern pike, freshwater drum, gizzard shad, yellow perch, black crappie, bluegill, rock bass, white bass, redhorse sucker, round goby, burbot, salmon, and walleye.
A new shrimp, bright orange Hemimysis anomala, was found in both Muskegon, MI and Oswego, NY.
Every year one or two of these new invasives come into our waters.
Zebra's, Goby's, Quaggma's....... It goes on and on, until we put our foot down.
Smith writes that the shipping industry saves the Great Lakes Region $55 million a year in transportation costs. The cost impact of zebra mussels alone is said to be over $200 million per year. Add all the exotic introductions and the estimates are over $1 billion per year.

[mrymar]

We have to band together. MUCC, Michigan Steelheaders, Charter Boat Assoc, BWSA, IFGA, ....... How do we get all of these organizations together and organized?
I am starting this thread on several message boards. Lets see where it takes us. Maybe in about two weeks time, we will have some ideas on how to tackle this situation.

[MOODMagazine]

We do indeed need to band together on this issue and a ton of others. And the steps are starting to be taken for that. In March, MUCC will be hosting a summit of groups to start laying the foundation for a new effort that will, hopefully, bring together a number of the major national organizations as well as industry folks. The goal is to simply outline a number of important issues that we are all concerned about and start working on them TOGETHER.

Obviously, we're never going to all agree on everything. But we do need to put some differences aside and have a common voice. A lot of times, it seems people want to focus on one thing they don't like and refuse to work toward a better future. I can't tell you how many people see that MUCC supports a license fee increase and threaten to cancel their membership. Yet, they don't take the time to understand that we're working very hard to find a long-term funding solution for the DNR, DEQ, etc. that requires ALL citizens to pay in not just Michigan's hunting and fishing community. The license increase is a temporary fix.

So stay tuned. I think we're going to see some real positive movement out of this. And groups like Michigan Steelheaders, Charterboat Assoc. should be hearing from us soon with details on the event. If you know of a group that would like to be included, just contact me at thansen@mucc.org and I'll get you details.

[Spanky]

Good stuff guys, Keep the info comming.
Myrmar, I believe the estimate is every 28 days( or something in that order) a new invasive is discovered in the great lakes waters.

[trout]

The biologists I know paint a pretty bleak picture or they say let's wait and see.
In order to protect the great lakes you'll have to deal with the Feds.
By the time they act it will be way too late.

Every person in the great lakes area needs to take action, not just sportsmen.
Don't put limits on your allies.
I'd flood the media with a campaign to educate every taxpayer in the USA on the threats we face.
Historically we have trashed the Great Lakes and it's time to turn the tide.

[Blaketrout]

The freight companies have really got some nerve. They don't like it they can stay out!!!http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS01/703230325/1001/news

[salmon_slayer06]

I guess there was an article written in the Times Herald Port Huron newspaper about a biologist who explained what will be happening with our lakes very soon. I don't know the details. But I remember that possibly this summer we could see our lakes getting very warm. Without the ice on the lakes that we once seen, the waters warm much quicker once the temps start raising. With the increase of warmer dryer summers, the lakes will get too warm and fish diseases will be on the rise. There will be a huge die off of the minnows and will wipe out every thing in the lakes. So what the guy was trying to say was there will be no fish in our lakes soon. Thats pretty much all I know about that. I'm sure the article is somewhere online.