Great Lakes

August 27, 2012

International Joint Commission, Canadian Section
234 Laurier Avenue West, 22nd Floor
Ottawa, ON K1P 6K6  Canada

The Hon. John Baird
House of Commons
Ottawa,  Canada

International Joint Commission United States Section,
2000 L Street, NW
Suite #615
Washington, DC 20036  USA

Dear IJC Canadian and United States Commissioners;

Thank you for providing the opportunity to comment during your recent public hearings and in writing on the International Upper Great Lakes Study Board’s (IUGLSB) Reports.... Read more »

Immediate release: August 9, 2012

IJC to allow Georgian Bay to drop another 1.25 meters

(Midland) -- The International Joint Commission may be intending to allow water levels in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay to drop by more than 1.25 meters (4 feet) below current levels that are already at historically low threatening shoreline wetlands, navigation and access of island properties if the recommendations of a report by the Upper Great Lakes Study Board are adopted.  A video shown at a series of public meeting arranged by the IJC  appeared to downplay the implications to the middle lakes.... Read more »

The IJC meetings on the Great Lakes water levels finished off mid-July with some of its most successful turnouts (read about the Midland meeting, where 600+ people attended). The struggle is not over yet.  Please remember that the IJC is accepting public comments via mail by September 30, 2012.  It is also important to write your MP with the same message: Restore our water levels!

Before writing your letter(s) please ask yourself these questions:

1.       What do 13 unprecedented years of low water levels mean to you economically and environmentally ( eg loss of wetlands and fish habitat, water quality concerns, invasion of Phragmites australis on exposed shorelines)?... Read more »

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2012/world/has-the-invasion-started-asian-carp-edna-found-in-lake-erie/

While federal efforts are largely focused on stonewalling invasive Asian carp at Chicago, the fish could be making their way into the Great Lakes through Lake Erie, where studies show they are likely to thrive. ... Read more »

A Toronto company has been slapped with a $50,000 fine after it was found trying to import live Asian carp into Ontario, an invasive species that has been known to wipe out aquatic ecosystems.

The 2,500-kilogram fish shipment was stopped at the Sarnia border on its way to Fortune Fisheries, a Toronto company that sells to local restaurants.

Though the fish had been on ice for 24 hours, since being shipped from a fish farm in Arkansas, it came back to life when a border official put some of the fish into a bucket of water.

The company was fined as a result.... Read more »