A $1-million federal grant will dismantle a dam fully opening the lower Rouge River to the Great Lakes this summer for the first time in more than 100 years. The Alliance for Rouge Communities, which received the grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is one of the groups involved.

The Coast Guard is finishing up its seasonal placement and maintenance of navigational aids throughout the Great Lakes.One of these cutters was in Chequamegon Bay this week setting and adjusting buoys.

Operation Spring Restore, an annual Coast Guard mission to verify and replace 1,281 aids to navigation throughout the Great Lakes region, is almost four weeks ahead of schedule, due to an unusually light 2011/2012 ice season, the Coast Guard says. The mission began on March 13.  

Strategies for restoring the natural divide between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes – and, in the process, modernizing the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) – are identified in a report by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. 

The three separation alternatives include a down-river single barrier between the confluence of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Cal-Sag Channel and the Lockport Lock; a mid-system alternative of four barriers on CAWS branches between Lockport and Lake Michigan; and a near-lake alternative of up to five barriers closest to the lakeshore. All three include measures to improve the CAWS’s role in flood management, wastewater treatment and maritime transportation, as well as stopping the inter-basin movement of aquatic invasive species.

The proposed rule would amend the inland waterways navigation regulations. Specifically, this rule proposes to redefine the geographical points which currently demarcate an area of the Detroit River in which certain vessels are restricted to speeds not greater than 12 statute miles per hour (10.4 knots).

Comments and related materials must reach the Coast Guard on or before July 9, 2012.

Michigan organizations and agencies are building nine rock reefs in the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River to bolster native fish spawning and restore habitat. The Middle Channel of the river connecting Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair supports one of the largest remaining populations of sturgeon in the Great Lakes.

Each reef will be about 40 feet wide, 120 feet long and 2 feet high. Made of angled limestone and rounded fieldstone, the reefs are an effort to return the river to a spawning hotspot.

Just in time for the opening day of the 2012 inland fishing season, anglers have a new and easier way to figure out what fishing regulations are on their favorite inland lake.

A new searchable database allows anglers to search by lake, by county and by multiple counties to pull up an interactive map and a listing of the fishing regulations for that water.

25 years ago Muskie weren't in Fox River. Steve Hogler, fisheries biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, set a fyke net and in less than 24 hours, 18 adult muskies traveling upstream had been funneled into the underwater trap.

Ohio state officials say new regulations on fish cleaning and possession are a practical way to help prevent rulebreakers from overharvesting Lake Erie fish.

27 organizations from the United States and Canada are uniting to help several fish species in the Great Lakes. Michigan Sea Grant, which has taken the lead in the partnership, is headed by Jennifer Read.

The agencies are building an artificial fish spawning reef.Three species will be targeted: lake sturgeon, walleye and lake whitefish. Sturgeon, however, have the most to lose. Jim Boase of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said he expects the reef construction to be complete next week.

Read said she thinks fish will start spawning at the reef by the next season after they have had time to find it.

EPA will award approximately $20 million under this Request for Applications for about 100 projects, contingent on the availability of appropriations, the quality of applications received and other applicable considerations. Register in a webinar to learn more about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative 2012 Request for Applications 

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