Great Lakes Echo

The ethics of catch and release

Haley Walker — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:46:36 +0000

In a section of the New York Times called “Room for Debate,” I recently found a discussion about the fishing practice “catch and release.” The online section invites different experts to debate current events and topics. This particular one was prompted by the headline “Catching but Not Releasing” and followed by the questions “Do fish feel pain?’ and “Should invasive species be thrown on the grill?” I suppose after writing about Great Lakes issues for the past year, my eye is trained to read and look for stories about invasive species. ...

Sharing the road: Prologue

Alice Rossignol — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:05:30 +0000

Thousands of bicyclists set off on Michigan roads yesterday riding north from Lansing in the annual DALMAC ride. Contributing report Leslie Wolcott will ask riders about bicyclist issues. Questions like: How do bicyclists feel about sharing the road with other vehicles? What are the road conditions really like? And is a biking tourism economy possible in the state?

After 25 years, Lake Michigan refuge fails to nurture wild lake trout

Jeff Gillies — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:12:04 +0000

A 1985 revamp of the plan to restore lake trout in Lake Michigan focused stocking on two relatively shallow, rocky sections of Lake Michigan where fishing for the species was banned. At least part of that overhaul has proven fruitless, according to a study published recently in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

MONDAY MASHUP: LakeRim explores Indiana’s Great Lake shoreline

Rachael Gleason — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:06:45 +0000

An interactive map from the Indiana Geological Survey shows a string of scenic beaches and natural areas along Indiana's Great Lakes shoreline.

Researchers use planes, lasers to survey Lake Superior

Rachael Gleason — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:05:29 +0000

Planes outfitted with lasers have been probing the depths of Lake Superior for the past two months. Their mission? Measure lake bottom elevations along the coast using a laser surveying technique called LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging. The process is similar to how bats and dolphins use sound waves to judge distances. The planes shoot lasers into the water and measure how long it takes for the pulses to hit lake bottom and return; time indicates water depth. It’s difficult for research vessels to navigate shallow waters to measure depths along the ...

Report ranks the water quality of Great Lakes beaches

Alice Rossignol — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:06:29 +0000

Great Lakes states placed in the bottom two-thirds of 30 states ranked recently by their 2009 beach water quality by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Great Lakes college recognized for sustainability

Rachael Gleason — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:20:31 +0000

Sierra Magazine recently ranked the nation's greenest colleges. The Sierra Club's publication asked 900 schools about their global warming and sustainability initiatives.

MONDAY MASHUP: Water trails connect Great Lakes beaches

Rachael Gleason — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:25:36 +0000

If you unraveled the shoreline of the Great Lakes, it would just fall short of stretching half way around the Earth. The region has more than 10,000 miles of coast, and a good portion is open to the public for recreation. Many states have interactive maps that display water trails — water routes for boaters and paddlers — and provide information about beach access and amenities.

A non-position position on “climate chaos”

Jeff Gillies — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:58:57 +0000

Mike Nichols doesn’t take a position on global climate change. He just writes newspaper editorials downplaying its effects. Nichols, a senior fellow with the free-market think tank Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, took exception in a recent column to the term “climate chaos,” which has gotten a lot of media play as floods drown Pakistan and a heat wave bakes Russia. In a recent article in the New York Times, reporter Justin Gillis describes the connection between chaotic weather and greenhouse gasses: “Theory suggests that a world warming up because of those gases will ...

MONDAY MASHUP: ToxMap highlights Great Lakes health concerns

Rachael Gleason — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:12:38 +0000

The world’s largest medical library mapped Environmental Protection Agency data on toxic releases and Superfund sites to illustrate their impact on public health. Roughly 7,400 industrial facilities in the Great Lakes region reported the release of toxic chemicals in 2008, according to EPA data.