180+ Foreign Species Now Inhabit Great Lakes - Native Fisheries Collapsing

[hatrack]

The Great Lakes are in the throes of an environmental meltdown, with more than 180 foreign species of animal and plant life in its waters, scientists say. The foreign species are gobbling up native fish, crowding out local fauna and wreaking havoc on the food chain.

These ecological changes are being spearheaded by some of the most destructive species ever to invade -- notably the zebra mussel and its cousin, the quagga mussel. Adding to the ecological damage is the explosion of the voracious round goby, which eats the eggs of native fish and takes over their spawning grounds and habitat. "We are seeing changes in the Great Lakes that are more rapid and more destructive than any time in the history of the Great Lakes," said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the Great Lakes Office of the National Wildlife Federation based in Ann Arbor.

Most invasive species are believed to have entered through the ballast water of foreign ships. They spread via currents, the hulls of recreational boats and the bait buckets of anglers who accidentally transport them. Their proliferation has raised the ire of fishermen. "I used to fish with a cane pole and catch 5-gallon buckets full of perch," said Tom Matych, 51, a shop worker from Twin Lake, near Muskegon, who remembers some great fishing trips in four decades of casting for perch, walleye and other sport fish on Muskegon Lake.

The last time Matych went out on the lake, all he caught were gobies. "We call it Gobyville now," Matych said. "It's tough to catch walleye and perch, but the gobies are everyplace you go." To dramatize the explosion of gobies in the lake over the past five years, Matych held a fishing tournament in June. Four hundred anglers caught 5,000 gobies -- and one perch -- over five hours. The 460 pounds of gobies, worthless as food for humans, were discarded. The goby, accidentally released into Lake St. Clair in the mid-1980's, has now proliferated across all the Great Lakes.

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http://www.detnews.com/2005/project/0508/14/Z06-275416.htm

[rhino47]

1. I live on a small lake in western Pa the walleye are dying off

I read the live net reports from fish and game com the past three years.There are small fry or very large walleye.Nothing in between.
They are saying oxygen poisoning .Pymatuning Lake used to be one of the top 5 walleye lakes in the country.
It is also being infested with zebra mussels and the bass population is stunted.Of course it has nothing to do with a ammunitions factory near jamestown.

[H5N1]

2. I stopped at a beach on Lake Michigan last week. It was closed.

Red hot day. No lifeguard. No one in the water.
Maybe three people mulling around.
Red warning sign posted.
Water unsafe for swimming.
Never thought I'd see the day.
Like science fiction.

[amandabeech]

3. It may have been too near a sewage system outflow, or

a major river that gets raw sewage outflow. Some cities on Lake Michigan have not build holding facilities or additional sewage treatment plants. Those cities ususally haven't separated their sewage and storm sewers. That means that when there's a heavy intense rain, like a series of thunderstorms, the sewage plants overflow with the storm sewer water and spew half treated water into Lake Michigan or one of its tributary rivers.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have in the past been famous for such spews. If the beach was anywhere near Grand Haven, at the mouth of the Grand River which receives Grand Rapids' spew, then it wasn't the usual invasive creatures, it was invasive (and cheap) humans.

[H5N1]

4. Some kind of algae bloom. The city claims it is not sewage caused,

but who knows?