Spiel

Bruce Peninsula fishing derby belly up May 27, 2009 Rob Gowan / www.owensoundsuntimes.com The troubled economy has claimed the Bruce Peninsula Fishing Derby and the Chantry Chinook Classic may not be far behind. After 27 years the annual Bruce Peninsula event, which attracts about 3,000 anglers to the waters of the peninsula each year, is being cancelled for 2009. If the Chantry Chinook Classic loses money, as it did last year, this year’s July 25-Aug. 8 event may be the last. “With the economy and everyone stretched so thin it just hasn’t been feasable this year,” Bruce Peninsula derby chairman Bruce Atchison said Tuesday. “We’ve had 27 great years, but this year with everything going on with the economy and some of our local sponsors and major sponors not having the financial way to help out as much, we were unable to do it.” Atchison said it costs about $30,000 to put on the annual event and the committee came up “well short” of meeting the financial requirements for this year’s event. The derby ran each year beginning on the Thursday before the Labour Day weekend until the Sunday of the long weekend. “Things were looking pretty good right up until February, March and everything sort of went downhill from there,” Atchison said. Atchison said those involved with the event are hoping they can revive it once the economy rebounds. “Whether it is the same format or something a little different, we are just not sure yet,” Atchison said. “We are still meeting to decide what we are going to try and do.” The annual event attracted anglers from all over, including as far away as New York and Florida, Atchison said. It included the water of Georgian Bay from Wiarton to Tobermory and Lake Huron from Tobermory to just outside Sauble Beach and all the inland lakes in between. Each year, more than 1,500 fish were weighed in trout, pike, perch, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and salmon categories. Atchison said the quality of fishing in recent years hasn’t been as good as in the past and that also factored into their decision to cancel. “The numbers of fish in all the derbies have been down and the salmon fishing has not been great in the past few years and the perch have not been as plentiful,” Atchison said. “We have been trying to do conservation things so this year we thought, let’s just let things be and see how it goes.” Ray Walser, president of the Lake Huron Fishing Club, which puts on the Chantry Chinook Classic each year, said they have had no problem finding sponsors this year, but instead of giving cash, many are giving merchandise instead. “Probably the biggest thing is that in the past people would often throw you a cash donation, but now it’s merchandise, which doesn’t cost them as much,” Walser said. Walser said five or six years ago the club made a lot of money off the derby, which attracts about 1,100 anglers each year, but now they are either breaking even or losing money. “We lost money last year, we broke even the year before and we broke even the year before that,” said Walser. “If we lose money this year I don’t see it continuing on. We cannot run the derby at a loss. There is no possible way.” Walser said the size and numbers of fish have dropped in recent years and that has also had a negative impact on the event. “Years ago if you came to this derby you caught a lot of fish, but now it is tough,” Walser said. “With the collapse of the baitfish in Lake Huron the salmon have collapsed along with them. We’ll always catch salmon, but we will never catch them in the numbers we used to.” Fred Geberdt, co-chair of the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular, which attracts between 3,500 and 4,500 anglers each year, is expecting more than 3,000 anglers to take part in the 22nd version of the event Aug. 28 to Sept. 6. “There are some ups and downs, but we are holding our own,” Geberdt said Tuesday. “We have about 170 sponsors altogether and we found a few that had problems with a downturn in their profitable business for the year, but we had others who have stepped up to the plate that we never had before.” Geberdt said the spring fishery actually looked good this year and the Sydenham Sportsmen’s Association, which puts on the event, has been busy with its hatchery getting fish ready to be stocked. “You talk to anybody who was on the water this spring and we had a real good fishery this spring,” said Geberdt, who added that while collecting rainbow trout eggs at the Mill Dam in April fish numbers were high. “There is still some talk of the baitfish problems, but if you talk to the guys in Wiarton they had a real good run of smelt this year. “We had a dramatic drop in size of Chinook salmon because of the loss of alewife . . . but we’re finding Chinook salmon have turned onto smelt and sticklebacks so our fish are well muscled. You don’t get the 30-pounders anymore, but we get comfortably good-sized 18- to 20-pounders.”

Muskoka anglers reel in $10,000 grand prize Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Allyson Snelling / www.parrysound.com Two Muskoka anglers are getting quite comfortable in the winner’s seat. Mike Reid of Gravenhurst and Wes Foster of Bracebridge won the annual Lake Muskoka Pike Tournament on Saturday with a tournament record of 188 inches for five pike. The win came with a top prize of $10,000 – a prize some Parry Sound anglers weren’t far from catching. Reid credits his partner and their combined pike fishing experience for the win, adding it helps when you’ve got a fast boat. “This year we had some help from Team Powersports,” said Reid. “We fished the entire lake and covering the water quickly in a fast boat is key. We don’t fish any spots that no one else knows about, we just run around a lot.” The duo’s smallest catch was 32 inches, but the other four fish ranged from 37.5 inches to 41.5 inches. By 9 a.m. the team had a good inventory in their live well and weighed in their fish two hours before deadline, but Reid explained the pair also overcame some adversity. “We caught one and lost one (in front of another angler),” said Reid. “But we went back about a half-hour later and caught it again. It was one of those gift days where the fish Gods were good to us. Everything worked out.” He said the best part was the tournament drew more than 80 teams, which meant the prize money for first place was a whopping $10,000. “Once we knew there were 80 boats registered, it was time to go to work,” said Reid. This is Reid and Foster’s second time winning a $10,000 first-place prize. Last year they won a $6,900 purse for their top finish. The tournament paid cash to the top five spots and awarded prizes from sixth to 20th. Second place and $2,608 went to Scott and Tim Carley of Gravenhurst with 160.25 inches, and Clint Hurd and Brad Herbert from Parry Sound took third place and $1,956 with 157.75 inches. Chris Marling of Bracebridge and Phil Curtis of Parry Sound earned $1,304 for fourth place with 156.5 inches, and Chad Coady and Mike Reynolds of Gravenhurst won $652 for fifth place with 153.75 inches. The biggest pike – a 43.5-inch pike – was caught by Brian Cammick and Ray Potter, earning them a $1,580 cash prize. Full tournament results are posted on the Muskoka Bassmasters’ website at www.muskokapike.webs.com. “We are proud to say that we ran a 100-per-cent live release tournament this year with every single fish being release healthy and alive,” said Andre Carriere of the Muskoka Bassmasters. “As well, the Ministry of Natural Resources teamed up with us this year to take on an extensive pike tagging project that is a first of its kind in North America. They were able to tag hundreds of pike as they were coming in to the final weigh-in.” Carriere said each tagged pike includes a tag number and a call-back number and it is hoped that when these pike are caught, the anglers will report it. “This tracking program will be ongoing for years now, and we will be able to track the time and distance the pike travel after being released from Gravenhurst Bay,” he said. “If someone catches one, please call it in and release this fish back to the lake safe and sound.”

The politics of water levels: Georgian Bay Ass'n suspicious of IJC report exonerating St. Clair River in water level woes May 27, 2009 Michael Erskine / www.manitoulin.ca LITTLE CURRENT - Members of the Georgian Bay Association (GBA) and their allies expressed dissatisfaction with both the timing and the conclusions contained within a draft report of the first phase of the International Upper Great Lakes Study (IUGLS) commissioned by the International Joint Commission. The study's status quo remedial recommendations on the St. Clair River, along with the report appearing before an outside peer review process was completed-and without inclusion or release of reports offering countervailing assessments-has done little to ameliorate that dissatisfaction. This phase of study, which examined the impact of water flowing out of the Great Lakes through the St. Clair river system, was in itself largely a reaction to pressure from the GBA. The GBA has posited in its own study-known to all and sundry as the Baird Report-that increased water flow caused by continued navigation dredging on the St. Clair River was a large contributing factor to the low water levels experienced on Lake Huron over the last few years. In response to GBA concerns expressed last year, the study group agreed to split the study into two phases. The first, looking at the immediate concerns posed by the St. Clair flow, was to be completed first, while the second ongoing phase is to examine a wider range of factors impacting water levels on the Great Lakes. While it would be easy to dismiss the concerns of the GBA as anti-all-things-government-paranoia, the actions in the timing release of the draft report by the IUGLS board have certainly fed those concerns. First, the timing of the input sessions so early in the season all but ensured a poor showing at the public input session (there were only three non-media attendees at the Little Current session). While the rising water levels in Lake Huron (up by over a foot this year) could be cited as a reason for the poor turnout, the more likely reason this session did not attract the significant numbers as last year's session did is that the seasonal residents, those most impacted by lake water levels, have not yet arrived here from their winter refuges. The emcee of the event, Dr. Eugene Stakhiv, delivered a largely concise and well-informed presentation, which was as free of technical jargon as one could reasonably expect of such a technical study. The presentation took place through the use of an Internet connection which patched together public consultations in Manitoulin; Cleveland, Ohio; Evanston, Illinois; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Thanks to the technical expertise of support personnel like Tribly MacDonald of Ann Arbor Michigan, along with board member Jon Gee and Public Interest Advisory Group member Doug Cuddy, the presentation was largely technical-glitch-free. Dr. Stakhiv was comfortable, projected an open and engaging persona that comes from substantial public engagement and experience. But it is highly unfortunate that Dr. Stakhiv's 37-year career with US Army Corps of Engineers-the people (rightly or wrongly) suspect of being the culprits behind the lower water levels and diversions into the US-serves to offset his considerable and justly-earned credibility as an advisor on difficult water management and engineering issues in the minds of those suspicious of the study. Dr. Stakhiv's clearly backed up assertion that the study is an amalgam of the work of hundreds of "disinterested" scientific researchers and that the report has been heavily peer-reviewed through an internal process fell on less-than-fertile ground. The report found that the human impact on the flow through the St. Clair River system has been largely static since the early 1960s, the earlier boundary of its study mandate, and that the increased flow through the system has come about through a natural impact-namely a 1980s ice jam of Herculean proportions which, the study postulates, brought about the deeper scouring of the river bed and a corresponding drop in water levels. This argument was given considerable weight through the use of colour charts, which superimposed water level data from a corresponding period of time before a similar event in the 1920s. The two data sets overlapped with compelling coincidence. The increased flow through the St. Clair accounts for a 23-centimetre (9-inch) portion of the drop in water levels since the last major dredging took place in 1962. According to the study's findings, the ice jam factor accounts for 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 inches) of that drop. Climate, a second major factor accounts for between 9 and 27 cm (3.5 to 10.6 inches) of water level fluctuations. This factor is becoming increasingly important according to the report, accounting for a whopping 75 percent of the decline between 1996 and 2005. The third, less influential but even more relentless, factor is the geological impact of the springing back of land compressed by the passage of the glaciers 10,000 years ago. While that decompression only accounts for 4 cm (1.6 inches) of the change in water depth (as opposed to level), and the degree of its impact varies wildly from region to region depending on soil composition, it cannot be stopped. As the term "remedial" suggests, remedial efforts are used to offset human interference. The danger of the remediation of Mother Nature's activities is that of discovering unintended consequences, explained Dr. Stakhiv. That being said, the study group left open the option of countervailing action following the findings of the second phase of the project. Previously recommended interference in the water levels could have had disastrous impact, he suggested, pointing out that a 1973 plan could have raised the lake levels another six inches during the dramatic rise in water levels-causing more flood damage and wreaking billions of dollars in added damages. This assertion was challenged by a Cleveland attendee, who pointed out that the proposed intervention was to build an adjustable control system, not a static one. The second phase will be looking at environmental impacts of global warming and a host of other factors, including outflow through Niagara and the St. Lawrence, and Dr. Stakhiv noted that there may be compelling evidence that human intervention is called for in many areas, including the St. Clair. In this case, time may well be of the essence. "If we are going to need a major project in place in two decades, and it will take 20 years to build, then we would need to get to work on the project soon to get it into place," he said. Ann McGregor, of the McGregor Bay Cottagers Association, was on hand for the presentation and took part in the question-and-answer period following the presentation. She questioned the timing of the input session prior to the completion of reviews of all of the reports included in the study. Dr. Stakhiv replied that 42 of 43 studies were in and assessed and that hundreds of scientists had taken part in the internal peer review and assessments. He also pointed out that a 30-day extension of the time period for peer reviews was being considered. He explained that the external peer review was being handled by the International Joint Commission. The main concerns of the GBA, backed up by the $130,000 study in 2004 of shoreline alterations and gravel and sand mining by Baird & Associates, whom the GBA refers to as "a respected coastal consulting engineering firm," are manifold. First, that although the study found a 5-percent increase in conveyance through the St. Clair River, or 6 billion gallons a day from Michigan, the Baird Report found that number to be 12 billion gallons a day and increasing. The IUGLS report findings are that the flow through has stabilized. Dr. Stakhiv counters that the Baird Report was a $130,000 study completed by one firm. The IUGLS study cost upwards of $20 million and involved literally hundreds of groups. The GBA also questions the decision to not release the Baird & Associates verification of the water flow out of Lake Huron and a study on remediation requirements by Ralph Pentland, former director of water planning and management at Environment Canada. Ann McGregor noted that the maintenance dredging of the St. Clair is ongoing and that studies of that impact will not be released until after the public consultation is complete. "Millions of taxpayers' dollars have been spent on this study to understand what is causing this huge loss of water through the St. Clair River, but the study board has published a premature report based on incomplete findings," said Mary Muter, the GBA lead on the water level issue and a GBA board member, in a release on the issue. "We need a serious, consensus-based, scientifically sound solution to protect this important ecological and economic resource." Dr. Stakhiv noted that the IUGLS group is only in place to study the factors impacting on Great Lakes water levels on behalf of the International Joint Commission and that the group has no regulatory or coercive powers of their own. At the end of the day, those decisions are to be made by the representatives of the two countries involved in managing the Great Lakes water system. While it would perhaps have been more productive for the draft report to have been more complete before its release and public input consultations conducted-particularly in light of the controversy surrounding the ignored data and studies-and while the public input sessions could hardly have been better timed to limit public participation (not to mention that the reasons given for the decision to hold them now was somewhat lacking), the entire study is still in early days yet, and the recent rise in Lake Huron water levels suggests that those water levels really are more cyclical in nature than was earlier feared the case. Time will certainly tell who is right, but the dire economic and ecological implication of being wrong makes a correct prognostication the vital question to be answered for the next seven generations.

Fishing: Operation Muskie salute to veterans WED. MAY 27, 2009 PATRICK DURKIN / Wisconsin State Journal Army veteran Michael Winther of Portage, foreground, holds a large muskie caught on Lake of the Woods while fishing with his brother David, background. Winther family photo For as long as men and women have left home for distant wars, they’ve ached for loved ones and yearned for familiar pleasures they’ll never again consider routine. Much as they reread letters and e-mails until nearly memorizing each line, today’s service members also pass around hunting magazines and fishing DVDs until the pages fall out or the disks fail to function. Words, photos, sounds and videos stir memories long kept dormant. It’s odd how people barely notice a balsam’s aroma or a muskie’s olive-drab back until they’re a half-world away, with no firm date or promise of return. But it’s interesting, too, how people empathize with distant service members and want to help where they can, no matter their means or views. One such example is Operation Muskie, (operatiomuskie. embarqspace.com), which took root last year after muskie-fishing legend Dick Pearson sent several fishing DVDs to soldiers in Iraq. He received a thank-you from Army Staff Sgt. Bret Wold, and several e-mail conversations followed. Pearson invited Wold, a fellow Minnesotan, to go fishing when he returned from Iraq. That invitation soon blossomed into Operation Muskie, a four-day getaway to Lake of the Woods — between Minnesota and Ontario — for 20 service-members and 10 guides in August of 2008. The guides and veterans were mainly from Minnesota and Wisconsin — the veterans served at least one tour in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo or Afghanistan. Besides Pearson, the guides included Pete Maina of Hayward; Norm Wild of Antigo; Steve Jonesi of Rhinelander; Jason Schillinger of Wisconsin Rapids; Paul Klein of Van Dyne; and Doug Johnson of Warroad, Minn. Wild considers Lake of the Woods the world’s best muskie water — and the lake backed him up. In slightly more than three days, the 30 anglers landed at least 50 muskies, including several between 47 and 52 inches, mostly with buck-tail spinners and top-water baits. “Everyone knows the muskie is the fish of 10,000 casts, but these guys did much better than that,” Wild said. “Some of the vets were experienced muskie fishermen and some were green, but only one guy didn’t catch a muskie and almost every boat had multiple fish. They also caught some northern pike up to 42 inches long, so they had fun.” The group fished from Walsh’s Baystore Camp in Warroad, and Frank and Laura Walsh housed everyone for free. The guides also donated their time and expenses, and rounded up donations to cover the veterans’ licenses and expenses. “It’s the least we could do for such a great group of guys,” Wild said. “They presented the guides and organizers with battle flags from places they served. It was a very moving experience.” Among the veterans were David Winther of Sobieski, who retired from the Navy as a senior chief petty officer in 2007 after 21 years; and his brother Michael of Portage, who served as an Army infantry sergeant from 1999-2003. During the event, David Winther landed a 491⁄2-inch muskie, the largest fish caught by the vets, and 38- and 40-inchers. These were his first muskies, maybe because he was seldom home during his Navy days. “We had a good time, but it was also therapeutic,” David Winther said. “Some of the guys were severely injured, so it was good for them to get out and enjoy the fishing and camaraderie. You always hear people saying, ‘support the troops,’ but in all my years in the Navy I never experienced something like this.” Operation Muskie returns to Lake of the Woods next month, June 29 through July 3. Michael Winther has helped with fund-raising to ensure the event continues. The group has already solicited donations from guides, resorts and tackle manufacturers, and auctioned the items to raise $17,500 for 2010. Perhaps the most striking sign of the event’s success, however, is the mutual gratitude between vets, guides and organizers. “They really appreciated the chance to go muskie fishing,” Wild said. “I’m sure they’re representative of everyone in our armed forces, which means we’re in very good hands.”

OPG requests exemptions from Endangered Species Act for R. H. Saunders Generating Station in respect to the American Eel Ontario Environmental Registry, May 22nd, 2009 Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) has requested an agreement under section 11 of O. Reg. 242/08 so that certain prohibitions under the ESA, 2007 would not apply to activities associated with the operation of the R. H. Saunders Generating Station in respect of American eel. The Moses-Saunders Power Dam spans the U.S.-Canadian border between Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York and has been in operation since 1958. The U.S. portion of this facility is the Robert Moses Power Dam; on the Canadian side is the R.H. Saunders Generating Station. Both facilities were built cooperatively by the New York Power Authority and Ontario Hydro (now known as Ontario Power Generation Inc.). The dam’s 32 turbine-generators are divided equally by the international border and are operated independently by the two utilities. The R. H. Saunders Generating Station is an important component of Ontario’s electricity supply system. American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List, in O. Reg. 230/08 under the ESA 2007 as an Endangered Species. The American eel is a fish found on the eastern coast of North America. The species spawns in the Sargasso Sea and the young eels that are produced move toward North America and enter freshwater systems where they may live and mature for up to 35 years before migrating back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. The R.H. Saunders Generating Station impedes young eels from migrating upstream to enter the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario watersheds, and the facility’s turbines cause mortalities to mature American eel as they attempt to migrate down the St. Lawrence River during their return migration to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Since the mid 1970s, an eel ladder has been in place at the generating station to provide upstream passage for juvenile eels to the upper St Lawrence and Lake Ontario. Clause 9(1)(a) of the ESA 2007, provides that no person shall kill, harm, harass, capture or take a living member of a species that is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List as an extirpated, endangered or threatened species, and clause 9(1)(b.) includes prohibitions against possessing and transporting. O. Reg. 242/08 under the ESA 2007 provides that clauses 9(1)(a) and 10(1) do not apply to persons operating hydro-electric generating stations provided that the conditions set out in the regulation are met, including the requirement to enter into and be in compliance with an agreement with the Minister. An agreement under section 11 of O. Reg. 242/08 must specify the species to which it applies and must state that the Minister is of the opinion that the agreement requires the person who operates the station to take reasonable measures to minimize adverse effects, that the operation of the station will not jeopardize the survival and recovery of the species in Ontario if the agreement is complied with, and the agreement does not conflict with the obligations of the Minister to implement protection and recovery actions under subsection 11(9) of the act. The agreement also must provide for monitoring the effects of the operation of the station on the species. The Minister is considering entering into an agreement with OPG for the R.H. Saunders Generating Station in respect of American eel. The agreement would include an implementation plan to minimize adverse effects on American eel and provide for monitoring the effects of the station on American eel. It is proposed that the implementation plan would include: Stocking of young eels into the upper St. Lawrence – Lake Ontario (USL-LO) watershed to supplement their natural recruitment. Stocked eels would be marked and monitored to determine survival, growth and maturity. Implementation of a trap and transport pilot project as a method of moving mature eels from the USL-LO watershed to the lower St. Lawrence River beyond any migration barriers. The project would be monitored to compare transported eels to naturally migrating eels and evaluate the effectiveness of trap and transport to mitigate turbine mortality. Conducting an observational survey of eel mortalities in the tail waters of the Robert H. Saunders Power Dam during the period between mid-June and the end of September. Operating, maintaining, monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of the Saunders eel ladder that provides an upstream migration route for American eel to the USL-LO watershed. The implementation plan is designed to offset impacts to American eel caused by the operation of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station. If the agreement is complied with, the operation of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station would not jeopardize the survival or recovery of American eel in Ontario. This authorization would not conflict with the Minister’s obligations under subsection 11(9) to implement recovery actions as presently there is no recovery strategy for this species prepared under section 11 of the ESA 2007 and consequently, no response statement has been published under subsection 11(8) of the act. The implementation plan will be renewed and amended over the term of the agreement as part of MNR’s adaptive management approach to improve methods to minimize impacts to American eel caused by the operation of the dam as new methods and/or science become known. Read the original posting to the Ontario Environmental Registry here.

Troubled Water: Canada and the U.S. can no longer afford to take the Great Lakes for granted May 24th, 2009 Christina Blizzard / Toronto Sun Thirty years ago, newspaper headlines declared Lake Erie “dead.” It was the kind of news that shocked us into action. Forty areas of concern, were identified around the Great Lakes. These were chronically polluted areas in need of immediate clean up. In the three decades since those headlines appeared, only two of the sites on the Canadian side of the border have been delisted. We drink from our lakes. We fish in them. Sometimes we swim in them. There is incredible pressure on us to divert water to our thirsty neighbours to our south. How are we faring as stewards of 20% of the world’s freshwater? It may become more valuable than oil in the future. Pure, clean water. We have it. The world thirsts for it. Earth’s largest inland body of water — the Great Lakes — is on our doorstep. With the U.S., we are joint stewards of 20% of the world’s total freshwater. It is the second largest economic engine in the world — after the U.S. and before Japan. So how well are we doing as stewards of this irreplaceable resource? It sometimes seems we take it all for granted. The International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes was created as an arm’s length agency of government to implement the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between the U.S. and Canada. The chairman of the Canadian section is Herb Grey. He explains there is a special agreement between the two governments dating to the 1970s. “There was a great deal of concern about the pollution in the Great Lakes,” Grey says. “Rivers were catching fire because of pollution, and this led to an agreement being negotiated between the two governments.” That agreement hasn’t been updated since 1986, and it’s time to go back to the table, Grey believes. “The two countries need to sit down and carry on a negotiation, and this hasn’t happened,” he says. Grey has high hopes U.S. President Barack Obama will take a greater interest in Great Lakes issues than predecessor, George Bush. There are even some who hope the new president may attend celebrations of the International Joint Commission (IJC) centennial that will take place in Niagara Falls in June. “We note that President Obama is from a major city on the shores of one of the Great Lakes — Lake Michigan, so he would personally be aware of a lot of these issues,” Grey said. Grey has met Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and says he took an interest in Great Lakes clean-up. “The Harper government has spoken about giving more attention to the Great Lakes. But a basic step is to finish the revision and updating of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and this is not something that requires us to have to sit down and negotiate,” Grey says. As parts of the U.S. south and Midwest dry up, there has been increasing pressure on governments to divert water from the Great Lakes. Ontario’s Environment Commissioner, Gord Miller, says the vast Ogalla Aquifer, which irigates parts of eight states from Nebraska to Texas, is drying up. “You can see how much it has gone down. It is in dire straits,” Miller says. About 27% of the irrigated land in the United States sits on this aquifer. It yields about 30% U.S. ground water used for irrigation. In addition, the aquifer system provides drinking water to 82% of the people who live within its boundary. While a new U.S.-Canada treaty prohibiting massive diversion of water to the Midwest was signed by Bush last October, Miller says there was huge pressure on the former U.S. president from Texas to open the Great Lakes water gates to send northern water south. “It is encouraging to have a president not only from Illinois, but from the Chicago area, where the consciousness of the Great Lakes is the greatest,” Miller said. “There is no question political power has shifted to California and the southwest, all of which are dry and have water crises,” Miller said. Water levels in the lakes are dropping, too. Miller says as a result of climate change, the upper Great Lakes don’t freeze for as long as they once did. “You get the winds blowing over. There is a lot of evaporation and that pulls the snow up north of Barrie. “There is a lot of lake effect snow, a lot of evaporation. That’s why the water level drops,” he says. There are also other theories about why lake levels are dropping, Miller reports. “The Georgian Bay Association commissioned a report some years ago that looked at water levels in Lake Huron,” he said. “They have suggested that there was overzealous dredging in the St. Clair River.” Lower water levels are a problem not just for recreational sailors. It’s also reducing the amount of goods lake freighters can carry. “The real business application is that the lakers have to cut tonnage, because they don’t have enough draft,” Miller says. “They are 25% underloaded in the really bad years — and that represents a lot of money.” There are high hopes the lakes can be used as a water superhighway, as a safer, more environmentally friendly way of carrying goods than our overcrowded highways. Still, there are drawbacks to this, Miller points out. There is a huge tax on new ships in the Great Lakes. “If you want to bring a new ship on the Great Lakes, there is a 25% tariff. That’s a real deterrent for any shipping company that wants to bring a new ship into the Great Lakes,” he said. With few shipyards left building ships on the Great Lakes, most new freighters have to be brought in from overseas — and pay the tariff.

Environmental centre big polluter May 26th, 2009 Derek Puddicombe / The North Bay Nugget Ottawa is the second biggest offender when it comes to releasing pollutants into Ontario’s lakes and rivers, says a provincial environmental group. The most recent numbers released by the Toronto-based organization Environmental Defence — which gets its data from Environment Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory — identify the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre (ROPEC) as a major source for dumping toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic into the Ottawa River. Second only to the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant in Toronto, which dumped 13.6 million kilograms of pollutants into Lake Ontario in 2006, the City of Ottawa’s only sewage treatment plant in the east end dumped more than 5.2 million kilograms of pollutants. Two other Toronto sewage treatment plants are also on the list, ranked third and fifth. The group says the province’s sewage treatment plants aren’t being held accountable enough and that metals such as mercury and lead are especially concerning given their effects on reproduction and development. Environmental Defence says the Toxics Reduction Act introduced April 7 ignores Ontario’s biggest water polluters. Aaron Freeman, a policy director for Environmental Defence, said the act should apply to all polluters — including sewage treatment plants because they are the largest reported releasers of mercury and lead into the province’s lakes, streams, and rivers. Sewage treatment plants are a source of toxic chemicals, and one of the best candidates to further pollution prevention,” said Freeman. Applying the act to sewage treatment plants would reduce releases of the many toxic chemicals these plants spew into our waterways.” Dixon Weir, the city’s director of environmental services, isn’t overly concerned about being No. 2 on the list because the city is meeting all monitoring and other criteria set by the provincial ministry of the environment. He also says Ottawa’s drinking water is safe to consume and the city doesn’t need a second sewage treatment plant. We do have capacity to handle community growth over the next few years,” said Weir, adding that about 14 million litres of river water passes by the capital every second, which helps dilute anything that ends up in the river. To help keep drinking water safe for residents the city regularly tests for about 360 chemicals and other compounds before the water is allowed to flow through Ottawa taps. Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Steve Desroches said the city doesn’t want to be on the Top 10 list and is working on a plan to stem the amount of pollution that flows into the river.

Okay here's a picture of my friends cottage taken some 30 years ago (damn!). It is (was) located on the north side of the river about half way between the Saugeen Cedars campground and the old iron bridge (it's nowclosed to traffic). In fact the new bridge would darn near be on top of it if it's still there? Look familiar to you (anyone)? We used to fly fish the river back then getting many rainbows a few specks and the occasional big brown. Weighted nymphs fished through the riffles took most of the fish. Fond memories indeed.

Actually you typed it. Reviewing the board rules might be a good time killer for the bored and the forgetful (like me).

Best o luck to you corvette1, I'll be watching for updates when you able to post them.

That's as good as any line to wrap this one up!

Hey I know that smiling face, am I going to see Dawson this year Marty?

I suppose that's true Bruce, one thing for certain though, I'm not igesting any Rogaine from my taps.

Like I need you to remind me.....

I'm not to sure where that is, it's been a few years. I'll try to scan and post a picture of the old cottage when I get a chance. Perhaps you'll recognize it.

Sounds like interference, are you running both at the same time?

Incredible.

Another stellar (I won't say "epic") report Mike and a spectacular esox Jason.

Thanks for your addition to a great post Cliff. But still no sauger pics!

Welcome to the board. I spent a great deal of my youth on the waters between Durham and Hanover at my best friends cottage, I wonder if that's yours now? Anyway there are definitely some good trout in your area, but the big'ns (browns) are mostly nocturnal. You could try fishing the bigger pools at night with big rapalas or similar minnow baits.

Fabulous report John, just fabulous. Great guide, great fishing and a great host, what a great weekend. Now where's the sauger pics?

That's one hell of a road trip. Sorry I didn't get down there myself but it just wasn't in the cards for me.

Fish on drugs Discarded pharmaceuticals are threatening health of the Great Lakes May 25, 2009 CHRISTINA BLIZZARD / www.torontosun.com Water, water, everywhere. But is it fit to drink? Trent University professor Tom Whillans still keeps a copy of a newspaper headline from 1978: "Lake Erie dead," it proclaimed. We've certainly shown progress cleaning up the sensitive Great Lakes basin since then, he says. "One of the problems we have is complacency. People think that we have changed things a lot. It's OK now. "Well, it's not. It's just a heck of a lot better than it was." Whillans is involved in Great Lakes rehabilitation, especially in remedial work that has been done on the 40 chronically polluted "areas of concern," that were identified as in need of cleanup. He's also a Canadian adviser to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. "There are major successes and there are also major areas that still need attention," he said. So far, two Canadian sites have been delisted as areas of concern -- Collingwood and Severn Sound. Hamilton has also shown great progress in addressing some of its problems. "It has huge problems that are associated with 200 years of abuse and you don't solve those things in 10 years," Whillans said. One of the big improvements is in sewage management, especially phosphorous, which is the nutrient that causes the most reactions in the biology of the lake. It was the focus of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement signed in 1972. "All of the lakes are showing signs of having recovered from that," Whillans said. While there have been improvements in most urban areas, there are still concerns about rural sources such as agriculture. Dave Ullrich, is a spokesman for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Founded by Toronto Mayor David Miller and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, the organization is made up of mayors from 62 cities around the Great Lakes, 38 Canadian and 24 in the U.S. Ullrich says federal and provincial governments need to step up the the plate when it comes to rebuilding municipal infrastructure systems to deal with sewage. "Cities on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence were some of the earliest settled. There are a lot of old sewers in those cities, built many years ago and for a smaller population and when not so much of the shoreline was paved," he points out. A 2006 study done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency across the eight Great Lakes states showed a $73 billion wastewater infrastructure deficit. As well, new and emerging chemicals are developed every day and no one knows what environmental impact they will have on the Great Lakes. He's hoping some of the economic stimulus money that has been pledged on both sides of the border will go into building better sewer systems to better treat the waste that's dumped into the lakes. "Our cities are interested in, and moving forward with, aggressive water conservation programs," Ullrich said. "We think that even though we have the largest body of surface water in the world, that we need to be good stewards of it." One big headache is the ever increasing amount of pharmaceuticals and personal care products that are finding their ways into our lakes and rivers. Trent University professor Chris Metcalfe says that in 2003, pharmaceuticals were detected in various parts of the Great Lakes. They are most likely to be found in Hamilton and Toronto harbours, or off the various rivers that flow into Lake Ontario. Non-prescription drugs such as acetaminophen or ibuprophen are found most frequently. Occasionally, prescription drugs such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, heart medication and antidepressants have been detected. There are also fears about the effects birth control pills and estrogen may have on fish species. Even if pills aren't dumped into the wastewater system, estrogen passes easily through the human body and into the sewage system. Scientists worry about the effect of birth control pills and estrogen on fish species. While the drugs have only been found in small quantities, they are very potent drugs, Metcalfe points out. "Certainly our previous work has shown that in some locations in the Great Lakes you have some evidence of feminization of fish," Metcalfe said. The active ingredient in birth control pills, as well as natural estrogen and some chemicals that can mimic estrogen, may all be contributing to the feminization of fish, Metcalfe said. The reproductive organs of male fish become deformed to the point where the species may not be able to reproduce. "There is enough information starting to come in now that some populations of fish are starting to be impacted by pharmaceuticals," Metcalfe said. "We studied the white perch and we noticed that the gonads, the reproductive tissue of the male, had some immature egg cells in them which are indicative of feminization." Fragrances that are used in perfumes, underarm deodorants, detergents, as well as antibacterial compounds added to toothpaste and mouthwash have also been found. He says European countries have invested heavily in wastewater treatment and Canada needs to do the same. "That's a difficult thing, because all municipalities are strapped for cash. But I think both provincial and federal governments have a responsibility to make sure that municipalities are treating waste water to the greatest extent. And he warns consumers to be careful how they dispose of unwanted or out-of-date medication. Don't dump it down the toilet. "There is more call now for more programs to safely dispose of out-of-date drugs or drugs that people don't need. "Some municipalities across Canada have begun to start up programs for the safe disposal of drugs," he said. We drink from our Great Lake water. We fish in it. Sometimes we swim in it. It is our pure, clear lifebood. We need to be sure we are good stewards of this precious liquid. It's in short supply, and the stocks are dwindling.

Yeah, INVITING

:D :D