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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States should approve their own rules to protect the Great Lakes basin from oil pollution because federal laws inadequately address the problem, according to a new report written in response to a massive oil spill in southern Michigan.

The report by the National Wildlife Federation and University of Michigan Law School concluded there's no review of long-term risks related to oil-pipeline routing decisions and states have a "critical opportunity" to minimize impact before construction. The report says stronger rules are needed to prevent spills such as the July 2010 accident near Marshall that released more than 800,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek.

Machine will chew up the shells and spit them out

Zebra mussels, an invasive species of mollusks that form vast colonies on rocks, piers and anything else they can latch onto, leave behind equally vast shell piles when they die. The shell remnants are driven by waves into piles four feet high on the lakeshore properties on Edgewater Beach Road in Dyckesville, five miles north of Green Bay. That's enough shells to fill about 22 dump trucks per household.