Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes on the earth and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system is the largest fresh-water system in the world. They are sometimes referred to as inland seas.

Political issues

The International Joint Commission was established in 1909 to help prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters and to advise Canada and the United States on questions related to water resources. Concerns over diversion of Lake water are of concern to both Americans and Canadians. Some water is diverted through the Chicago River to operate the Illinois Waterway but the flow is limited by treaty. Possible schemes for bottled water plants and diversion to dry regions of the continent raise concerns. Under the U.S. "Water Resources Development Act"http://www.ohiodnr.com/water/planing/greatlksgov/fedstatut.htm, diversions of water from the Great Lakes basin requires the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors, which rarely occurs. International treaties regulate large diversions. In 1998, the Canadian company Nova Group won Canadian approval to annually withdraw 600,000 m³ (158,000,000 US gal) of Lake Superior water to ship by tanker to drought-stricken Asian countries. Public outcry forced the abandonment of the plan before it began.

Related Topics:
International Joint Commission - Chicago River - Illinois Waterway - Nova Group

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The Rush-Bagot Agreement of 1817 limits the number of armed vessels permitted on the Great Lakes. Some are wondering if this agreement will survive the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Related Topics:
Rush-Bagot Agreement - September 11, 2001

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Lake Champlain in upstate New York briefly became the sixth "Great Lake of the United States" on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the Sea Grant Program, contained a line penned by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. Not coincidentally, this status allows neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. Following a small uproar (and several New York Times articles), the Great Lake status was rescinded (although Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake.)

Related Topics:
Lake Champlain - New York - United States - March 6 - 1998 - President Clinton - Sea Grant Program - Patrick Leahy - New York Times - Vermont

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Great Lakes ecological challenges

The Lakes provided fish to the Native groups who lived near them or upon their shores. Early European settlers were astounded by both the variety and numbers of fish. Historically, fish populations were the early indicator of the condition of the Lakes, and have remained one of the key indicators even in our technological era of sophisticated analyses and measuring instruments. According to the bi-national (U.S. and Canadian) resource book, The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, "the largest Great Lakes fish harvests were recorded in 1889 and 1899 at some 67,000 tonnes (147 million pounds)," though the beginning of environmental impacts on the fish can be traced back nearly a century prior to those years.

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By 1801, New York legislators found it necessary to pass regulations curtailing obstructions to the natural migrations of Atlantic salmon from Lake Erie into their spawning channels. In the early nineteenth century, Upper Canada?s government found it necessary to introduce similar legislation prohibiting the use of weirs, nets, etc. at the mouths of Lake Ontario?s tributary watercourses. Other protective legislation was passed, as well, but enforcement remained difficult and often quite spotty.

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On both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, the proliferation of dams and impoundments multiplied, necessitating more regulatory efforts. The decline in fish populations was unmistakable by the middle of the nineteenth century. The decline in salmon was recognized by Canadian officials and reported as virtually a complete absence by the end of the 1860s, the Wisconsin Fisheries Commission noted a reduction of roughly a quarter in general fish harvests by 1875.

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Overfishing was cited as responsible for the decline of the population of various whitefish, important due to their culinary desirability and, hence, economic consequence. Moreover, between 1879 and 1899, reported whitefish harvests declined from some 24.3 million to just over 9 million. Recorded sturgeon catches fell from 7.8 million pounds in 1879 to 1.7 million in 1899.

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There were, however, other factors in the declines besides overfishing and the problems posed by dams and other obstructions. Logging in the region removed tree cover near stream channels which provide spawning grounds, and this affected necessary shade and temperature-moderating conditions. Removal of tree cover also destabilized soil, allowing soil to be carried in greater quantity into the streambeds, and even brought about more frequent flooding. Running cut logs down the Lakes? tributary rivers also stirred bottom sediments. In 1884, the New York Fish Commission determined that the dumping of sawmill waste (e.g., chips and sawdust) was impacting Lakes fish populations.

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The Great Lakes are international, and in situations that require regulation, a lack of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada might be predicted to have disastrous consequences. In the development of ecological problems in the Great Lakes, it was the influx of parasitic lamprey populations after the development of the Erie Canal and the much later Welland Canal that led to the two federal governments attempting to work together ? which proved a very complicated and troubled road.

Related Topics:
Lamprey - Erie Canal - Welland Canal

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Nevertheless, despite the ever more sophisticated efforts to eliminate or minimize the lamprey, by the mid 1950s Lake Michigan and Huron?s lake trout populations were reduced by about 99%, with the lamprey deemed largely to blame. A result was the bi-national Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

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Other ecological problems in the Lakes and their surrounds have stemmed from urban sprawl, sewage disposal, and toxic industrial effluent. These, of course, also affect aquatic food chains and fish populations. Some of these glaring problem areas are what attracted the high-level publicity of Great Lakes ecological troubles in the 1960s and 1970s. Evidence of chemical pollution in the Lakes and their tributaries now stretches back for decades. In the late 1960s, the recurrent phenomenon of the surface of river stretches (e.g., Ohio?s Cuyahoga River) catching fire, due to a combination of oil, chemicals, and combustible materials floating on the water?s surface, came to the attention of a public growing more environmentally aware. Another aspect that caught popular attention was the ?toxic blobs? (expanses of lake bed covered by various combinations of such substances as solvents, wood preservatives, coal tar, and metals) found in Lake Superior, the St. Clair River, and other portions of the Great Lakes region.

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According to the authoritative bi-national source The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, "Only pockets remain of the once large commercial fishery."

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