Spiel

Fish in a Flash Friday, February 22, 2008 By David Figura / Outdoors editor syracuse.com Rob Goffredo says he took his wife ice fishing and at one point told her to jerk her line even before she felt a fish bite. She laughed at the advice, but it was probably right. The reason? Electronics. Goffredo was using a Vexilar flasher unit to track her lure and any fish coming at it or around it. "Electronics have made ice fishermen far more efficient," said Goffredo, head of the fishing department and pro staffer at Gander Mountain's Cicero store. "Instead of just opening a hole and wondering if there's any fish there, you just lower the transducer in the hole and you know everything that's going on. The depth, whether there's fish, weeds. "It's like playing a video game." Dick Hyde Jr., team leader in the fishing department at the Bass Pro Shops store in the Fingerlakes Mall, said those using electronics while ice fishing on North Bay on Oneida Lake have been "slaughtering" the walleyes this winter. "It won't be like that always, but most guys are getting their limit within an hour," he said. Electronics have been around for several decades, but the current crop of electronic offerings seem to eliminate a lot of the guesswork on the ice. The equipment breaks down to four categories: Flasher units: These devices use flashing lights on a clock-like face to show the water depth, your lure and any fish in the immediate area. It's color-coded, with anything directly beneath the hole appearing in red (including the bottom). Anything nearby is green. As a fish gets closer, the flashing light changes to orange and then red. It's accurate and it's the closest thing to a "real time" image of what's down there Liquid crystal units: These work on the same principle as a fish-finder or depth-finder on a boat. You get a more elaborate picture, with a view of the bottom, contours, fish, etc. - but it's not TV. There's a delay. The fish you see on the screen (if they're swimming) may not actually be there when you lower your lure. The more expensive ones have Global Positioning Satellite features. Hand-held GPS devices:[b/] If you want to remember a previous hot spot or a location you scouted from your boat during warmer weather, just punch in the coordinates. It's another way to eliminate the guesswork. Underwater cameras: You can lower a fish-shaped camera attached to a cable down into the hole and see what's there on a small TV screen. Some use blue and red lights to help you see. Others use infra-red light. Goffredo says sometimes he puts both an underwater camera and a flasher in a hole. He uses the camera with 50 feet of cable to find rock piles, weed lines and bottom structures. "Last Wednesday, I was out for two hours and caught 24 perch," he said. "I credit the Vex. Each time the fish would shut off, I'd simply find them again. I cut 10 holes, caught all 24 out of three." Hyde says the beginner, looking at all the electronic offerings, has some choices to make. "You can get an underwater camera for $99," he said. "When you take children, nothing keeps them more interested than watching the camera and seeing the fish swim around." Hyde said an essential to fishing with electronics, particularly in cold weather, is to bring a spare battery. "Cold weather knocks a battery in the shorts," he said, noting that an eight-hour battery can be reduced to 4-5 hours. Not everyone uses electronics. Bob Bush, of Lyncourt, was out Monday morning fishing the DeRuyter Reservoir and nearly caught his limit of 50 sunnies and bluegills. He was using a chartreuse "dot" lure, tipped with a couple of spikes (tiny grubs). He said he routinely catches his limit of panfish while ice fishing and has never used electronics. It's a matter of just knowing the water you're fishing, Bush said, having fished the same waters during the spring and summer. He's memorized the weed lines, the drop-offs and the rock piles in the lakes he fishes. He said even if you're using electronics, you still have to find the "humps" on the bottom. "I like all the small lakes around here - Tully, Eaton Brook, DeRuyter, Erieville Reservoir, along with Big Bay on Oneida Lake," he said. "My father used to say 90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water." Bush conceded that a lot of times he goes out and cuts a lot of "dry" holes in the ice. "They may be on one weed line today, and another tomorrow," he said.

Thanks Raf, I've learned something today. I actually have no idea where the damns are but there was a set of falls I could have gone over in the Dry Pine Bay area if'n I weren't careful. I suppose that led me to believe I was on the upper. That was some 26 years ago and It's still fairly clear in my mind but don't ask me what I did yesterday....lol

....Spectacular, you done well young man.

....Beautiful !

....Good stuff Craig. I had hoped to be able to attend but by the time my fatherly commitments were filled it was to late. Praps next year.

...Way cool, I like how quickly that ling blasted skyward.

....Indeed a great day to be out on the ice, not stuck at home. Thanks for the pics Wayne and terrific fish you got there Cliff.

....Wow, Rick Mercer standing with a well known celebrity. Thanks Lew, I thought that was the generating station on the right, due to the building actually. Just couldn't remember the name.

How many choices are there?

....Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo I mean way to go Wayne.

....I only see one stack, how much you had?

....I've actually spent more time ice fishing Owen Sound just because it's closer but yes I've had success on Colpoys for whities.

....Welcome to the board. As someone who enjoys ice fishing on Colpoys I'll give you this advice, take a boat.

....Well on this point I must disagree. Whitefish (freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the family Salmonidae which includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species) are a native species and in no way are comparable to carp (large member of the minnow family). They prefer cold or cool waters and are not destructive to the enviroment. They do not have "sucker mouths" but rather a small under slung mouth below a rounded snout. I can also attest to them being active top water feeders (great on the dryfly) and suspending, not always the bottom sucking type fish they are often perceived to be. The bodies are elongated and latererally compressed and they also sport an adipose fin common to the salmonidae family. Suffice to say other than moderately large scales they in no way are comparable to carp. As for leaving them on the ground to rot, it will solve nothing.

Two area lakes integral to power generating idea By Valerie MacDonald / northumberlandtoday.com February 23, 2008 An engineer and writer is contacting local chambers of commerce and area politicians, including Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson, about an idea to generate hydro-electric power using the height differential between Rice Lake and Lake Ontario. Harry Valentine, 48, of Cornwall, Ont., is promoting construction of a "pipeline or tunnel" between the two lakes. Lake Ontario is 368 feet below the surface of Rice Lake, he stated, and this is the key to his "pumped storage hydraulics" solution to Ontario's need for more power. Essentially, water from Lake Ontario would be pumped up to Rice Lake during the night when the need and cost of power is lowest. It would make Rice Lake rise by a foot. When power is needed by 6 a.m. the next day and the demand raises the cost of power, the water would flow downhill through the same pumps, which now become turbines generating electricity to be added to the power grid. Rice Lake would return to its previous level, Mr. Valentine said. "It may be possible to generate up to 1,000 megawatts of electric power for two cycles of four hours each during the morning and evening, when demand for electricity is at its peak," Mr. Valentine wrote in an e-mail outlining the project. A technical article Mr. Valentine said he is preparing for the Ontario Waterpower Association - an advocacy group for Ontario's waterpower industry and headquartered in Toronto - will outline how this 20-kilometre pipeline or tunnel could be created on the east side of Port Hope and the east side of Bewdley. It could be closer to Cobourg, however, he noted. He chose the Port Hope illustration because it is the closest distance to link the two lakes. If the project were to go forward, the pipe would go "wherever it is possible to negotiate land," he said. There is one such facility at Niagara Falls, Mr. Valentine said in an interview this week, but many in the U.S. are using this system creating about 23,000 mw of power, in fact, more than Ontario's current power capacity. Mr. Valentine said he has contacted the offices of Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson, Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi, and the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Rinaldi said his office receives a lot of advice about how to achieve different things and he was unaware of this particular proposal. The environmental impact of lowering and raising water levels is an issue that Mr. Rinaldi immediately flagged. Rice Lake is already controlled through the Trent system, he added. "This sounds like a pie in the sky project," he said. But, he added, it could be of value. Chamber manager Kevin Ward said he was investigating the information Mr. Valentine provided to the chamber. Mayor Thompson has been unavailable to comment and Hamilton Township Mayor Mark Lovshin was unaware of Mr. Valentine's proposal. Several township councillors at this week's council meeting were surprised by the idea and Coun. Pat McCourt predicted there would be quite a response by township residents to such an idea. Cobourg Mayor Peter Delanty, a member of the Great Lakes mayors' organization, expressed concern about piping water out of any of the Great Lakes. Water diversion is one of the group's major issues. But, he added, "I'd really have to look at it." No information had been provided to his office about Mr. Valentine's proposal, Mayor Delanty said.

It's cold outside, but Lake Superior is getting warmer By Ron Way / minnpost.com Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 DULUTH — Lake Superior is undergoing sudden increases in its water temperatures and dramatic declines in its lake levels, prompting scientists and others to wonder: Is the world's largest fresh water lake in the throes of irreversible change due to global warming? A broad new study is being readied in an attempt to figure that out. Years of much warmer winter temperatures — especially overnight lows — has resulted in dwindling ice cover that allows more evaporation of lake water into dry, cold air, said Jay Austin, a limnologist with the Large Lake Observatory in Duluth. He said less ice is likely aggravating summertime lake temperatures and even causing more evaporative summer winds across the lake surface that, combined with a prolonged regional drought, may have the lake in a cascading "feedback" of change-provoking-change from which recovery may be impossible. There's no doubt the lake is warming, a result of climate change and three years of drier than normal weather. But with regard to near- and long-term lake levels, Austin said precipitation rates are difficult to assess in climate change models, and Superior's level could stabilize if rainfall and snow are sufficient to off-set increased evaporation. Austin is seeking funding support to examine what's driving changes in the lake and to develop forecasts of what the lake may be like in 50 years or more. Foot below 'historic average' Last August, Superior was within an inch of its 1926 record low, set after a years-long regional drought (it preceded the more famous Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s). And while last fall's unprecedented three-month rainy period prompted a 17-inch rebound of the lake's level, Superior remains a foot below what's considered its "historic average." A foot of water in the expansive Lake Superior is enough to supply the residential needs of every Minnesotan for 42 years. Austin said that Superior has been warming since 1980, and the worrisome part is that the rate of water warming has exceeded the rate of warming of surrounding air. Lower lake levels complicate commercial shipping, requiring sea-going vessels to carry hundreds of tons less cargo in and out of the Port of Duluth-Superior. It has also affected recreational boaters, especially sailors whose crafts have six- to eight-foot keels that now scrape bottom in marinas and encounter more rocks in near-shore areas. To accommodate boaters visiting historic lighthouses scattered around the South Shore archipelago of the Apostle Islands Lakeshore, the National Park Service in Bayfield, Wis., has constructed special additions to docks that now sit higher than the lower-riding boats. "There has been a 12 percent decline in cargo carried by ships due to lower lake levels," said Glen Nekvasil of the Lake Carriers' Association that represents Great Lakes commercial shippers. A 1,000-foot "laker" carrying iron ore or Western coal out of Duluth essentially loses one cargo hold, Nekvasil said from his Cleveland office. For example, he said, last November a large "laker" loaded to 63,000 tons while it normally would carry 72,000 tons. Lisa Marciniak of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority estimates an additional 25 to 30 ships were required in 2006 to haul equivalent cargo when Lake Superior was at its historic average. To address shallower harbors around the Great Lakes and through the St. Mary's River that connects Superior with other Great Lakes, Nekvasil said, the U.S. Corps of Engineers will receive an added $50 million this year (increasing to $140 million), mostly for extra dredging because of the lower water. Life in the lake While lake levels affect what moves on Lake Superior, the water levels and warming affects what lives in Superior. "This winter has been somewhat colder than the last few years, but not much colder," Austin said, noting that lake temperatures have increased 4.5 degrees since 1980. "That may not sound like much to a swimmer or a sailor," Austin said. "But that rate of change over a few short years is significant to fish and plankton." One early victim may be populations of native whitefish — long a diner's delicacy — living in Superior's cold, deep water. "Whitefish eggs are in near-shore areas normally protected by ice cover," said Tom Hrabik, a fisheries biologist at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He said intermittent ice break-up over winter along with early spring ice-out can destroy eggs before they hatch. But the effect most feared by Hrabik is that warming will provide "a thermal refuge" for unwanted exotics, including the round goby (a small but aggressive bottom-dwelling fish that displaces native species), carp, eel and cool-water zebra mussels. He said Superior's cold water has been an effective buffer against invasions of exotics. Overall, Hrabik said, a suddenly warmer lake will change a variety of fish behavior patterns that have been established over thousands of years, and the result likely won't be good for the popular whitefish and lake trout. 'It is not good' So how does a relatively small change of a degree or two or air temperature cause a "significant" change of four to five degrees in the lake? That's what Austin wants to examine with his planned study. But he offered a likely scenario: Warmer overnight lows in winter reduces ice and exposes more of the lake to cold, dry temperatures resulting in more rapid evaporation. Lack of spring ice causes earlier warming of surface waters that lately have heated to "surprising" summertime levels (one mid-lake buoy in 2006 measured 75 degrees at the surface for a comparatively long period of several days). Less differential between lake surface temperatures and the air brings winds from aloft down to the surface (Austin says winds are up 25 to 30 percent), and the warm winds cause summertime evaporation when previously the lake was so cold that none occurred in summer. Warmer surface water results in later ice formation and also thinner ice that is subject to intermittent breakup throughout winter. And so the "feedback" process feeds itself. Nekvasil and Marciniak expressed hope that current lower lake level is a short-lived and Superior will rebound, as it did following the record low of 1926. And that may be the case if precipitation amounts increase across the Great Lakes Basin to off-set evaporation losses. So far that hasn't happened. "Lower lakes cost our members because of reduced cargoes and increased trips," Nekvasil said. "It is not good." As a scientist, Austin wouldn't call the observed changes good or bad. "I would say that Lake Superior could be a in a period of seeking a new stability," Austin said.

....While it has been some time since I fished Dry Pine Bay I think it's part of the upper French River (main channel). It's in the area south of Alban on the map. The lower being west of HWY#69. And while I certainly don't condone keeping any sturgeon in the Nipissing region I don't think those pictures show lots of killing. Like the other pictures on the site there are many duplicates. I think in all those shots we're seeing three sturgeon. From the 2008 regs.... Lake Nipissing - ncluding the waters of the French River from the Chaudière and the Little Chaudière dams to Lake Nipissing; the west bay of Lake Nipissing in Haddo Twp.; the northwest bay of Lake Nipissing to the falls of MacPherson Creek; the Sturgeon River from Lake Nipissing to the dam at Sturgeon Falls; the Veuve River from Lake Nipissing to the chutes located in Lot 5 in Conc. l in Caldwell Twp.; the South River from Lake Nipissing to Highway 654; and the entire West Arm of Lake Nipissing including Cross Lake. / Lake sturgeon closed all year. Now if I could just find a copy of the old regs. I think he also needs to bone up on his facts.... "They have different names. People call them Lake Sturgeon and River Sturgeon but the proper name is White Sturgeon." White Sturgeon....Acipenser transmontanus Lake Sturgeon....Acipenser fulvescens

Fish blast off for brief swim in outer space By AP STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- German researchers have launched a rocket carrying 72 small fish on a brief space flight to study motion sickness. The cichlids were in an unmanned rocket that blasted off from a launch pad in northern Sweden yesterday. Professor Reinhard Hilbig, who was in charge of the fish-in-space project, says the thumbnail-sized fish were filmed as they swam around weightlessly in small aquariums during the 10-minute space flight. The German team will now study the video to see if some of the fish swam in circles because that is what fish do when they experience motion sickness. Hilbig says the scientists hope the experiment can help shed light on why some people experience motion sickness while others do not, because the mechanisms involved are similar for both fish and humans. Hilbig said the fish landed safely and appeared to be in good condition.

....I think they should have charged him for this offence as well!

53 fish worth $4,500 By CARL CLUTCHEY Friday, February 22, 2008 chroniclejournal.com A little-known clause in Ontario‘s wildlife regulations has resulted in a Toronto man being fined $4,500 for possessing an unusually large quantity of fish. The 51-year-old man was charged with having 53 rainbow trout over the limit last spring by Manitouwadge game wardens, even though the fish had been caught near Medicine Hat, Alta. Ontario wardens were able to lay the charge because of Section 51 of the province‘s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, which gives them jurisdiction over fish or wildlife caught illegally in another province. As it happens, the maximum number of rainbow trout anglers in Alberta and Ontario can possess at one time is the same in both provinces – five. Ontario game wardens were called last April after police stopped a man on Highway 17 near Marathon for a traffic violation, the Ministry of Natural Resources said in a news release. Many of the fish found in two coolers had already spoiled, investigators said. The man, who pleaded guilty last week in Thunder Bay court, also lost his fishing licence for a year.

Town buys former marina for lakefront parkette Feb 21, 2008 John Slykhuis / yorkregion.com Georgina council inked a deal last week for the purchase of the former Keffer’s Marina on Lake Drive at Rayners Road in Keswick. That means an additional 130 feet of lake frontage in addition to a smaller piece of property across the road, Mayor Rob Grossi said. The lakefront land, under power of sale, was purchased for $98,500. “We’ve been hearing from our constituents that it should be cleaned up. It’s a mess. “I started some discussion with the real estage agent and brought it to council and we decided to buy it,” Mr. Grossi said. The deal was negotiated by town engineering director Bob Magloughlen. There will be discussions with the Ministry of Natural Resources for the removal of a number of decaying boat slips in the water, Mayor Grossi said. “We’re (hoping) the MNR comes up with some money to help us rehabilitate the whole area,” he said. “Depending on what staff recommends, we may want to create a little parkette down there. We also want to keep the boat ramp.” The mayor estimated the cleanup cost to be about $100,000 and said the town will investigate if federal funds of $18 million announced last week can be used. “It’s a great little piece of property,” he said. “We’ve made a request to MNR to clean up the docks and they’re trying to get funding,” Mr. Magloughlen said. “The docks are on crown land.”

....Sorry to hear this Rich. No other choice in the matter, you done right by her.

....I've done a lot of fishing for whities on Georgian Bay and I'd me more inclined to use a super thin no stretch superline or braid with a flourocarbon leader. You're better off trying to detect the take by feel than waiting to see the line move, IMHO.

....Has anyone considered she may be genetically pre-disposed to stupidity, uh have you?

Global warming deemed culprit in decline of L. Huron by Jim Moodie / February 21, 2008 manitoulin.ca LAKE HURON-As Lake Huron dwindles towards a record low, conviction is growing that neither the Chicago diversion nor the St. Clair River is principally to blame. Rather, in what could be described as a case of finally seeing the ocean for the waves, both policymakers and scientists seem to be reaching the consensus that the bigger, broader problem is climate change. In late January, the issue of global warming was high on the agenda of a premiers' conference in Vancouver, with Ontario leader Dalton McGuinty seeking-and receiving-commitments from his colleagues to address the crisis gripping the Great Lakes. Recent research undertaken by scientists in Michigan, meanwhile, suggests that Huron's water woes are largely the result of increased evaporation, a product of the widespread warming trend. The conclusion, reached by limnologists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Michigan-an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-was published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology in mid-January. According to the Toronto-based conservation group Environmental Defence, the scientists' findings provide a convincing argument for prompt action on the climate change front. The consequences of global warming are hitting closer and closer to home," the group's policy director, Aaron Freeman, states in a press release. "The health of the Great Lakes is essential to both the economy and natural environment of this region. It is a resource worth protecting." An alliance of lawyers and citizens that formed in Ontario in 1984, Environmental Defence worries that levels will continue to plummet if dramatic changes aren't swiftly made in how North Americans conduct their lives and business. And so does Ecojustice Canada, a national law organization that fights environmental battles in court on behalf of Canadians. "This study represents mounting evidence that the prognosis for the Great Lakes is dire without significant, immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," warns Dr. Elaine MacDonald, senior scientist at Ecojustice Canada. "Without action we will continue to witness the decline of our beloved Great Lakes, an internationally significant freshwater ecosystem." At present, Lake Huron is within five centimetres (two inches) of its all-time recorded low for this time of year, and 60 centimetres (two feet) below its long-term average, with the US Army Corps of Engineers predicting that the lake will drop another 20 centimetres by spring. It could get much worse: additional studies, according to Environmental Defence, have "predicted a permanent decline in water levels of one to four feet in Lakes Huron and Michigan by 2050, dramatically changing historic levels that have fluctuated within only six feet (1.8 metres) over the past 100 years." Lakes Huron and Michigan are "especially vulnerable to water level threats such as global warming," the group notes, since "other Great Lakes have locks or gates that can control water levels, but Huron and Michigan do not." Equally concerned about the state of this invaluable freshwater resource and conduit for commerce is the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI), an alliance of mayors spanning both the Canadian and US shores of the basin. Directors of the organization's board, including Town of the Blue Mountains Mayor Ellen Anderson, were closely following the premiers' conference, with the expectation that positive news might unfold regarding a new commitment to solving the water levels crisis. They weren't disappointed. "The premiers have agreed that Ontario will host a summit of experts on climate change impacts this year," related Mayor Anderson, whose municipality hugs the south shore of Georgian Bay near Collingwood. "It could be in a matter of weeks-as soon as it can be held. And my interpretation of this is that the premiers collectively agree that it's an important issue for Canada." Indeed, water sustainability was one of two key areas-the other being forests-that were identified by the premiers as warranting national strategies, noted Mayor Anderson. "As a member of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, I'm excited that they have recognized this as a high priority," she told the Expositor. "I look forward to the opportunity to share our concerns and become part of that process." Mayor Anderson said that, while the GLSLCI addresses a variety of issues impacting the Great Lakes, her particular focus has been declining water levels and the toll-both environmental and economic-this can have on a shoreline community. "My goal was to bring the water level issue to the board on a more personal scale," she said. "If the water levels go down two more feet, this means, in the Town of the Blue Mountains, an extension of our water intake at a cost of $5 million. As a municipality, we will certainly realize additional costs in servicing, both in terms of water and waste water." While exposed water lines and elevated docks in the so-called "big water" of Lake Huron may be the most obvious signs of trouble, Mayor Anderson said that the problem goes beyond the Georgian Bay coast. "Keep in mind that it's not just the bay that you see," she said. "The issue goes inland, and what we're doing there has a dramatic effect on the lakes. The rivers that flow into the lakes have been compromised by water being taken, for instance, by agriculture." Since joining the board of the GLSLCI, Mayor Anderson said she's made a point of speaking her mind and not shying away from worst-case scenarios. "I was asked at one point what my goal was as part of this group and as a leader of my community, and I said it's to provide shock treatment-we have to get people worried, because this has been happening for a long time and as humans we tend to be lethargic, assuming someone will fix it for us. But the invoice is going to be expensive." The Georgian Bay mayor brought forward a resolution on water levels at the December 14 meeting of the GLSLCI in Wisconsin that was heartily endorsed by the other board members. Citing the importance of the Great Lakes as a drinking water resource and site for recreation and commerce, and the threats posed by declining water levels (especially in Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan) to such needs and activities, the resolution calls upon the International Joint Commission (IJC), which launched a five-year study of the Upper Great Lakes last year, to proceed "with a sense of urgency" in its investigation. As well, the resolution commits the GLSLCI to "monitor the progress of this study closely through its representative on the public interest advisory group," and to "organize meetings of mayors and the interested public in the Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron basins to provide information about the nature and magnitude of the problem, and progress toward finding and implementing solutions." Mayor Anderson's municipality, inhabiting Grey County, is not the only part of Huron's southern shore that is alarmed by the dramatic dip in the lake's level. In January the Town of the South Bruce Peninsula called upon Bruce County to support its petition to the federal government to address the crisis, according to the Owen Sound Sun Times. South Bruce Mayor Gwen Gilbert told the Sun Times that cottagers are experiencing difficulties in accessing their properties due to the drop in water levels, and, if the situation persists, the municipality will have to extend the water intake for Wiarton, which draws its supply from Georgian Bay. Algae blooms and an incursion of phragmites (an invasive plant) are cited as some of the troubling offshoots of waning water that have been experienced along the shore of the Bruce. The Georgian Bay Association, which represents cottagers across the "sixth Great Lake," continues to press for remedial action to be taken at the St. Clair River shipping channel, which they say has been deepened over time due to dredging and scouring, hence contributing to Huron's decline. But the IJC, a quasi-judicial body formed a century ago to resolve disputes over waters shared by Canada and the US and oversee regulation of lake levels, has yet to find convincing evidence that the St. Clair is a significant culprit in Huron's decline. The commission launched a multi-year, $17 million study of the upper Great Lakes in March, 2007, following a similarly lengthy (and costly) examination of the lower lakes and the St. Lawrence. For Environmental Defence, the cure to Huron's water ills requires a widespread adjustment in the way governments, companies and citizens go about their daily routines, with an emphasis on conservation and reversing the trend in global warming. Last September, the group co-produced (with four other Canadian environmental groups) a report titled Great Lakes Blueprint: A Canadian Vision for Protecting and Restoring the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Ecosystem, which recommends, among other strategies: heightened standards and support for water conservation, including more grey-water recycling; more efficient municipal water systems with fees based on volume; and greater federal appreciation-and action towards-the impacts of global climate change on hydrological systems. For Mayor Anderson, no one answer will solve the problem, but she does feel that "it will take bold leaders and bold leadership to acquire a positive result with Great Lakes water levels." Governments are finally beginning to act, she believes, but a little after the fact. "We've known this was going to happen for years," she said. "The only reason we're paying attention now is that it is costing people some money. Someone's writing a cheque to get their boat up to the cottage." She also believes that the time has come to stop pointing fingers at convenient targets. "I hear a lot of comments about the US taking water," she noted. "But Canadians need to be educated about what we are taking, and we have to take responsibility for our own actions and stop blaming other people. Until then, we're sunk." Or left high and dry, as the case might be. Asked to compare her area's water concerns to those experienced by communities on Manitoulin, Mayor Anderson replied, perhaps a bit too tellingly, "we're in the same sandbox."