Spiel

Mercury Marine Web Site Named Best in its Category Abigail Walker / Feb. 19, 2008 fishingworld.com FOND DU LAC, WI.... Mercury Marine’s consumer Web site has been recognized by the North American Marine Industry Web Awards competition as the Best Marine Equipment Site. Winners of the competition were announced at the 2008 Miami International Boat Show, Feb. 14-18. Four judges from inside and outside the marine industry made the selections. The Mercury Marine website was re-launched in early 2007 with a new look, feel and architecture, offering more intuitive and visually engaging user experience that is easy to understand and navigate. The site features extensive content that helps users easily conduct online product research. In addition, improved product merchandising has enabled users to more easily locate the products they’re seeking. "Though an avid boater, I know virtually nothing about engines," said Sharon Davison, an award judge who is CEO of web design and consulting firm Red Sky Blue Water. "Yet with the Mercury site, I believe I could make an informed decision about the right motor for my needs. Mercury’s passion for engines comes through with a wealth of information made easily accessible through intuitive functionality." A recent addition to the Mercury Marine website is extensive engine-performance information housed within the site’s "Look Deeper" section. Mercury Marine’s current advertising and promotion campaigns urge boaters to "Look Deeper" into the results of engine reviews and tests from third-party experts, as well as head-to-head comparisons with competitive products. The site offers information and evidence supporting these advertising statements. The combined effort is an effective and productive integrated campaign that encourages consumers to truly compare essential data. "I haven’t seen another site in this industry that offers such comprehensive, objective comparative data," said Steve Fleming, director of communications for Mercury Marine. "With the right balance of aesthetics, intuitive site architecture and engaging content, the Mercury Marine website has become a critical success for Mercury Marine. And our site continues to grow every day, which I think is somewhat unique in our industry." About Mercury Marine Mercury Marine is the world’s leading manufacturer of recreational marine propulsion engines. A $2.3 billion division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), Mercury and its 6,200 employees worldwide provide engines, boats, services and parts for recreational, commercial and government marine applications. Mercury’s industry-leading brand portfolio includes Mercury and Mariner outboard engines; Mercury MerCruiser sterndrives and inboard engines; MotorGuide trolling motors; Mercury and Teignbridge propellers; MotoTron electronic controls; Mercury inflatable boats; Mercury SmartCraft electronics; and Mercury and Quicksilver parts and oils. In 2008, Mercury Marine’s OptiMax engine was ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Two-Stroke Outboard Engines" by J.D. Power and Associates for the third consecutive year.

Algae-munching fish clean up Chinese lake: Thu Feb 21, yahoo.com BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country's most polluted lakes -- and after their diet of toxins they will be sold on to consumers, state media said Thursday. More than 50,000 silver carp fry have been introduced into Chaohu lake and another 1.55 million will be added in the next 20 days, said Wu Changjun, from the Chaohu Fishery Administration, according to the Xinhua news agency. Each carp is expected to have gobbled between 40 and 50 kilogrammes (88 to 100 pounds) of blue algae when it reaches its adult weight, with each chomp of the sludge helping to clean up the toxic lake, the report added. Once the carp have matured, fishermen will be able to catch them and sell them in markets, at a price 15 times their original cost, giving a boost to the local fishing industry, according to Xinhua. Chaohu, China's fifth biggest lake in the nation's eastern Anhui province, was last year overcome by the blue-green foul-smelling algae, threatening water supplies and destroying life in the lake. The algae has led to a decline of 20 percent in the lake's whitebait stocks, one of the local fishing industry's key catches, Xinhua said Thursday. Hundreds of factories discharge their waste into Chaohu. More than 70 percent of China's waterways and 90 percent of its underground water are contaminated, according to government figures, often as the result of years of untreated sewage discharge and industrial pollution. The environmental woes have had led to problems with the nation's food supply, with some of those toxic foods making their way into exports that have contributed to the recent tarnishing of the "Made in China" brand

Seaway authority to release plan to adjust water levels Joanne Laucius, The Ottawa Citizen Wednesday, February 20, 2008 The binational commission that regulates the flow in the St. Lawrence Seaway is set to release a proposal next month to adjust water flow through Cornwall's Moses-Saunders Dam. The plan is likely to affect levels in many parts of the waterway. There are three potential schemes under consideration, but the preferred option suggests allowing greater variations in water levels, as was the case before the Seaway opened almost 50 years ago. "It would allow the system to return to its normal ebbs and flows," said Greg McGillis, a spokesman for the International Joint Commission, the independent body that regulates the seaway. The preferred plan has environmental benefits, encouraging the return of wetlands and wildlife populations, he said. It could also affect power production, tourism, recreational boating, water supplies and commercial navigation. But meetings on the issue in Ontario have only attracted 30 or 40 people, while in the U.S., crowds of 300 or 400 have gathered to debate the options, Mr. McGillis said. The plan has not attracted much controversy in Eastern Ontario, but it has raised questions in Montreal, where low water levels might affect the Port of Montreal, and around Rochester, New York, where high water levels could increase the risk of flooding for landowners on the south shore of Lake Ontario. There are about 100 homeowners on the south shore who face the risk of flooding, said Mr. McGillis. While waters will rise just as much on Canadian shorelines, there is less risk of flooding because Canadian homeowners followed the setback guidelines more closely. "The laws exist in the U.S. They have been resolutely ignored," he said. Changing water levels have also been flagged as a potential problem by the busy Port of Montreal, which has recurring problems with low water levels. Last September, the International Joint Commission authorized a gradual release of water from the Great Lakes through the dam at Cornwall. The aim of the five-year study that produced the plan was to correct, as much as possible, the wrongs of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a massive engineering project that was officially opened in 1959, said Mr. McGillis. The waterway enables vessels to sail from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Duluth, Minnesota, and makes it possible to inexpensively transport bulky cargo. But it also changed habitat for waterfowl, fish, vegetation and other parts of the ecosystem because the engineered waterway did not have the same extremes of high and low water as the natural system. After the proposal is released on March 31, the IJC plans to hold 10 meetings in towns and cities in various parts of the seaway system on both sides of the border, said Mr. McGillis. Dates and places are to be announced after the plan is released.

How to Handle an Invasive Species? Eat it By TARAS GRESCOE / nytimes.com February 20, 2008 Montreal LATE last year, a flotilla of fluorescent jellyfish covering 10 square miles of ocean was borne by the tide into a small bay on the Irish Sea. These mauve stingers, venomous glow-in-the-dark plankton native to the Mediterranean, slipped through the mesh of aquaculture nets, stinging the 120,000 fish in Northern Ireland’s only salmon farm to death. Closer to home, the Asian carp, which has been working its way north from the Mississippi Delta since the 1990s, is now on the verge of reaching the Great Lakes. This voracious invader, which weighs up to 100 pounds and eats half its body weight in food in a day, has gained notoriety for vaulting over boats and breaking the arms and noses of recreational anglers. Having outcompeted all native species, it now represents 95 percent of the biomass of fish in the Illinois River and has been sighted within 25 miles of Lake Michigan. The only thing preventing this cold-water-loving species from infesting the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water in the world, is an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. One of the great unsung epics of the modern era is the worldwide diaspora of marine invasive species. Rising water temperatures brought on by global warming have allowed mauve stingers and harmful algae to thrive far beyond their native habitats. Supertankers and cargo ships suck up millions of gallons of ballast water in distant estuaries and ferry jellyfish, cholera bacteria, seaweed, diatoms, clams, water fleas, shrimp and even good-sized fish halfway around the globe. Thanks to the ballast water discharged by ships entering American ports, Chinese mitten crabs now infest San Francisco Bay, and the Chesapeake’s oysters are preyed upon by veined rapa whelks native to the Sea of Japan. Sixty percent of the species in the St. Lawrence River were introduced by ships that ply the seaway to Lake Ontario. There is nothing new about such invasions. The first recorded case dates to 1245, when Norse voyagers brought a soft-shelled clam to the shores of the North Sea on the sides of their wooden ships. What is new is the rate of introduction and the extent of impact — 80 percent of world trade is conducted by ship, and a new marine invader is now recorded in the Mediterranean every four weeks. Zebra mussels have to be power-hosed from the intake pipes of Great Lakes electric companies, and sea squirts form dense colonies that smother the scallops and clams of Georges Bank. According to one estimate, invasive species in the United States cause major environmental damage and losses totaling about $137 billion per year. There is an easy solution, however: if cargo ships were required to empty and refill their ballast tanks at sea, rather than in harbors and estuaries, marine invasions could be brought to a near standstill. (High-seas ballast water exchange is already mandatory for ships entering the Great Lakes, and will be required next year for vessels mooring in California.) Unfortunately changing ballast water at sea takes time — and time in the shipping industry is money. So far, ship owners the world over have blocked laws seeking to limit shipping’s role in spreading bio-invaders. In the absence of any concrete action by the shipping industry, I would like to make a modest proposal. To save our oceans and lakes from their apparently inexorable slide back to the Archaean Eon — when all that was moving on the face of the waters was primitive cyanobacteria — it is high time we developed a taste for invasive species. Diners in Asia, where sesame-oil-drenched jellyfish salad has long been considered a delicious, wholesome dish, are way ahead of us. On the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project, has increased the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen in the waters off China, creating an ideal breeding ground for Nomura’s jellyfish, a monstrous 450-pound creature that can tear apart fishing nets. In the summer of 2005, a half-billion were estimated to be floating from the shores of China to the Sea of Japan every day, forming a ring of slime around the entire nation. The citizens of Fukui, a northern Japanese island, coped by marketing souvenir cookies flavored with powdered jellyfish. Returning from a fact-finding mission to China, a professor from Japan’s National Fisheries University offered up 10 different recipes for preparing Nomura’s jellyfish. “Making them a popular food,” he told a Japanese newspaper, “is the best way to solve the problem.” Precisely. And if we want to forestall our looming carp quagmire, this is the kind of attitude we need to adopt on our shores. Sports fishermen are already doing their part by angling for the pests (as the presence of such titles as International Carper, TotalCarp, and Carpology on magazine racks attests). Restaurateurs from Tupelo to Toronto could pitch in by replacing the bland-fleshed channel catfish on their menus with equally bland-fleshed Asian carp. It seems only fair: it was catfish farmers in the South who imported the fish to filter algae from their ponds in the 1970s and allowed them to escape into the wild during the Mississippi floods of 1993. For years now, fisheries scientists have been telling us that, for our own health and the health of the oceans, we need to start eating down the food chain — closer to the level of oysters than tuna. So, next time you’re in the mood for seafood, ask the chef to whip you up a jambalaya (or a fricassee, or a ragout) of rapa whelks and Chinese mitten crabs, or maybe consider blackening up an entirely new species. Asian carp, Cajun-style, anyone? Taras Grescoe is the author of the forthcoming “Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood.”

How to slow St. Clair flow still in question $15-million study may never answer debate over dredging TINA LAM • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • February 20, 2008 Leaders of a $15-million study of lake levels in the upper Great Lakes -- Superior, Michigan, Huron -- and St. Clair said they're not yet sure whether the St. Clair River might need gates or weirs to halt its flow. Eugene Stakhiv, one of the coleaders of the study, said laying data that show recent low levels on the lakes on top of historical data of low lake levels just before the Dust Bowl in the 1920s and 1930s, shows that the patterns are similar. What is different, Stakhiv said, is that evaporation and lack of ice on the lakes in winter are major contributors to the current low levels, while the historic lows mostly were due to a lack of precipitation. About 80 people at a presentation in Grosse Pointe Farms on Tuesday night heard that the study won't be complete until June 2009. Even then, it still may not fully answer questions about whether low lake levels are caused by past dredging of the St. Clair River, as a Canadian homeowners group alleges, or what to do about it. So far, data show the river is not eroding, which casts doubt on the theory. But some of those in the audience said they're worried about the lows. Phillip Wehrmeister of Grosse Pointe Park said he has a boat on Lake St. Clair. "I want to know what they're going to do," he said. "Lake St. Clair is way far down." Others, such as Mike Simmons of Clinton Township, said they're concerned that some water may be being illegally diverted from the lakes. The study leaders said they do not believe there are any such diversions. Legislation pending in the state Legislature, which all eight Great Lakes states have agreed to, would ban any future diversion from the lakes to other states. "We must get that passed," said Kay Felt, a member of the public interest advisory group for the study and a resident of Grosse Pointe Shores.

Ministry of Natural Resources / News Release *********************** TORONTO — Family Fishing Weekend is a great opportunity for families and friends to get outdoors and enjoy a popular winter sport together. ""Families can use this annual licence-free weekend as an opportunity to try a great winter activity and have a good time, while taking all precautions to ensure ice conditions permit safe fishing," said Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield. Where safe ice conditions permit, local events include: • Children's Fishing Day on Anderson Lake near Espanola, sponsored by the Espanola Game and Fish club, February 23. • The 3rd Annual Fishing Derby on Nighthawk Lake near Timmins, February 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. • The Georgian Bay Get Outdoors Club Ice Fishing Derby at Georgian Bay Landing, February 24 starting at 10 a.m. • Family Fishing Derby, Shirley's Bay, Ottawa River sponsored by the West Carleton Sportsmen Association, February 23 starting at 9 a.m. • The Pike "Catch-em & Keep-em" Derby, February 23 on Crowe Lake west of Marmora. During the Family Fishing Weekend, Canadian residents can fish licence-free in any public waters across Ontario, except those with a closed season. Anyone fishing licence-free must follow the conservation licence limits set out in the 2008-2009 Recreational Fishing Regulations Summary. Information on these limits will be available at each participating site. Anglers should also check the summary for regulations on season closures and gear and bait restrictions, which must be observed. The Family Fishing Weekend is supported by a partnership of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association, the Canadian National Sportfishing Foundation, the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. For more information about Ontario Family Fishing Weekend and local events, please visit www.familyfishingweekend.com.

Sign up for fishing derby North Star, Area News, Shelley Heffernan Wednesday, February 20, 2008 The Whitestone Rod and Gun Club are holding their second annual fishing derby on Saturday, March 8, from noon to 3 p.m. on Whitestone Lake. The cost per hole is $50 per adult and $20 per child. There are lots of cash prizes to be won and early bird tickets bought on or before Feb. 29 could win a prize of $250. For more information or tickets, call Jeff Hull at 389-3281 or the Duck Rock Resort at 389-3322.

Federation of hunters slighted by auditor general’s report The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has completed a 14-page response to the Auditor General’s Fish and Wildlife Management Program audit, which it said unfairly and erroneously discredits hunters and anglers. By Garett Williams Miner and News Tuesday February 19, 2008 The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has completed a 14-page response to the Auditor General’s Fish and Wildlife Management Program audit, which it said unfairly and erroneously discredits hunters and anglers. The federation completed an analysis of the 28-page audit and said it found inaccuracies from Ministry of Natural Resources reporting errors to an insufficient knowledge of the science of wildlife management in the Auditor General’s office. “In terms of what was presented, there were just so many flaws, there’s no other way of putting it,” said Ed Reid, a wildlife biologist with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. “The Auditor General’s office was looking at technical aspects of the fish and wildlife program where you would expect the role of the Auditor General to be looking at the cost efficiency of the wildlife programs and are they working.” Reid said the audit noted an increase in deer populations, but failed to capture the progress the ministry has made to increase its management capacity. The number of tags issued has doubled since the last audit, in 1998, to 100,000. Reid said the audit used an average of 87,000 tags, rather than the actual numbers, which plays out as if the ministry hasn’t responded to the increase. “That’s a really critical issue, it’s a sustainability and conservation issue and unfortunately, that wasn’t captured within the Auditor General’s report,” he said. “Instead, it painted a picture that the ministry hadn’t responded. And similarly in moose management, I would have to say the Auditor General’s office just simply is not qualified to interpret what is a fairly complicated ... moose harvest allocation process, which is science based.” Reid said the audit leaned on over-hunting for a declining moose population and while he admitted the moose population may have declined by nearly seven per cent, the number of tags issued to hunters declined by as much as 30 per cent. “There seems to be a focus that hunting and over-hunting and over-harvest seems to be highlighted as more of the singular problem,” he said. “Where as, in the case of moose management, moose hunters have had to give up quite a bit of opportunity and they will willingly, to maintain moose populations.” Increasing bear numbers in Northern Ontario are a root cause for calf decline in some areas, Reid said. Studies out of Minnesota suggest warmer climates place additional stress on nursing cows. The ministry needs increased wildlife resources to complete further studies, he said. A copy of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters response has been sent to both the MNR and the Auditor General’s office. Reid said there has been no response, as far as he knows. However, not everything the Auditor General’s report concluded was wrong, he said. The federation agrees the MNR is underfunded. Reid suggested as much as $30 million in additional funding would be required. “We want accuracy,” Reid said. “... as a citizen, I think, like most people, ‘this is an important independent review of the efficiency of government programs.’ Reasonably, fairly and rightly, it looked at the tasks the ministry has to do and the resources it’s got and concluded that it needs more resources. “We would agree with that.”

....A foot from the tip, I'd try and get it replaced or buy a new one. A foot off any rod is not repairable and using it a foot shorter than it's origional length is not desirable nor recommended.

Zebco: Going From Bombs to Big Mouth Bass By CHARLES CANTRELL gtrnews.com Over its 100-year history, Tulsa’s energy based economy has spawned many enterprising, start-up companies that found a niche by providing a much needed, innovative services or products. Mostly those small companies remained tied to the energy industry and successfully grew up with the expansion of the country’s energy needs. But there was one very notable exception to that model. From 1932 until 1949 Zero Hour Bomb Company found and held its niche in the petroleum industry. It held the patent on and manufactured electrical time bombs used in fracturing, a procedure to bring difficult, tight formation wells into production. During the mid-1940s, the company began to look for other things to manufacture when other methods to start the flow of oil into wells began to surface causing a shrinking market for its single product. And to make matters worst their patent was about to expire. In 1949 a watchmaker and itinerant inventor with the unlikely name of Jasper R. Dell Hull entered the scene. He had created a new kind of fishing reel so simple, so ingenious and yet so revolutionary it would change the world of fishing forever. It must have made quite an impression on the oil patch manufacturer, because from that day on management of the Zero Hour Bomb Company turned their backs on the petroleum world and focused on the exciting world of fishing retaining only a conjugation of their old name by calling themselves Zebco. R. D. Hull (as his name was mercifully shorten to) had come up with a new way of feeding line off of a reel that eliminated a thing called backlash. Backlash was a common problem associated with the tricky “baitcast” reels of the day where one simple mistake led to a tangle of braided Dacron line requiring not only the patience of Job but the dexterity of a weaver, requiring far too much precious weekend leisure time to correct. Using the Zebco “Standard” fishing reel, a dad could fish all day with his son without one encounter with the dreaded backlash and thus avoid the temptation to use words not suitable for young ears. Flawless casting out of fishing line became the purview of everyone, not just the practiced, patient and skillful angler. Zebco’s inexpensive closed face fishing reel soon replaced the old baitcast reel and it also replaced the traditional cane pole, hook, line and bobber and launched a new era in fishing. The Zebco Standard, and the subsequent similar low cost reels they made with their user friendliness, essentially broadened the fishing market to include the whole family: dad, mom, brother and sister. Not only was effortless casting for fish more adventuresome and exciting than sitting passively on the bank waiting for a bite or wrestling with backlash, it encouraged more anglers onto the waterways to explore new fishing domains. Soon the opportunities and demographics for fishing included anyone with a little interest, some expendable income and weekend time on their hands. Zebco with their strange little reel had helped widen the market vistas for manufacturers of boats, lures, fishing line, rods and other fishing paraphernalia. The early reel was only the first in a proliferation of products to come. By introducing more of America to fishing, this little Tulsa company was instrumental in ushering in the vibrant industry we know today. But back to that first innovative reel, originally branded the Standard. It was renamed the “Zebco 33” and over time this mainstay product took on the mantel of “America’s Reel.” As the company began to develop a product line of similar closed faced reels at various price points, the Model 33 would remain virtually the same over the years. Any attempt to calculate the number of fish caught over the years using Hull’s reel would boggle the mind. It was the company’s cash cow and cash in they did. Starting with its line of closed face reels, Zebco would springboard into manufacturing and marketing fishing products addressing a variety of needs for the growing market it had helped create. Every year brought a new challenge to the company to satisfy the typical anglers’ insatiable appetite for something new and better and to ultimately help them catch more or bigger fish. Continual innovative products were essential to ongoing success. This demanding need had to be juggled with retaining the company’s core values of always providing dependable and affordable quality products. Zebco also diversified its product line through company acquisitions to include other type reels such as open face spinning reels and levelwind casting reels. The company developed a line of fishing rods and acquired a fishing lure company. They even began to sponsor professional anglers in the growing sport of professional tournament fishing. So well did Tulsa’s fishing reel company present itself in the market place that it was purchased in 1961 by Brunswick Corporation, a move that facilitated its continued market ascension into every aspect of the fishing industry and around the globe. Product diversification enabled the company to break new marketing ground by offering assembled packaged products call “Combos.” Weekend anglers could walk into a sporting goods store and purchase a Zebco reel fully wound with the latest in high strength monofilament fishing line matched to the proper rod with maybe a hot lure or two thrown in for good measure, all assembled and ready to go in one package. At the same time the customer could also buy a scaled down version of a Combo for his younger fishing buddy. Then all that was needed was a body of water with fish in it. Innovative product development, prudent acquisitions and exemplary marketing are all hallmarks of the Zebco story. Notable marketing achievements include being the first fishing tackle manufacturer in America to advertise on network television. Over the years the company has been a major player in the preservation of the country’s fishing heritage through conservation and education programs. In 1983 it established the Fish America Foundation, which over the years has raised and granted millions to the cause of restoring fish habitats in the United States and Canada. Older local anglers might even remember the media attention given to the casting expertise of the fishing chimpanzee put on display at the Zebco booth at the Tulsa Sports Show in the 1970s. It was one more ingenious marketing ploy making the point once and for all that anyone and everyone can catch fish with a Zebco reel. Time, with its inevitable tribulations, tests a company’s resolve, its mettle and its ability to adapt. Throughout the years Zebco has been tested often by the highly competitive and unforgiving retail fishing market. It is a multi-billion dollar industry with a fickle customer base constantly demanding new products and ideas, and one that expects both product quality and affordability. To maintain its market position, the company has at times been compelled to adopt strategies that run contrary to its inherent corporate culture. Such a time came in the late 1990s when labor cost differentials forced the company to move its manufacturing overseas in order to stay competitive. But Zebco maintains a significant presence right here in Tulsa where it first began its journey. In 2001 Brunswick sold Zebco to the W.C. Bradley Co. However, the company’s World Headquarters, housing all of sales, marketing, R&D and accounting, remains at its Apache Street location where it has been since the early 1970s. The Zebco journey began with an improvised prototype fishing reel made of ingenuity and part of a beer can thrown together by a man with an idea addressing a simple notion that fishing should be affordable and fun for everyone. And Tulsa’s fishing product manufacturer continues on as a renowned international company and an integral part of an industry leader in recreational products, all in a little under 60 years. It would be hard to find a more quintessential American success story than Zebco, a Tulsa mouse that roared.

....No worries Wayne, I get an extra weeks vacation next year and I know where I'll be slotting it.

....So that's all I missed out on due to having a lousy job that keeps my bills paid! Screw the job I gotta be there next year. In fact I'll book vacation to ensure it.

....I hate reading great weekend reports when I've had to turn down an invitation to be part of it! Glad to see you all had fun.

Sturgeon may finally get some respect; Federal government looking at protecting species Doug Edgar / February 16, 2008 Owen Sound Sun Times You'll probably never see a starlet tearfully hugging a baby sturgeon. After all, it's a fish with a tube for lips and a hide covered in bony plates and tooth-like protrusions. It has cartilage instead of bones for a skeleton and can grow to hundreds of pounds over a lifetime that can easily surpass 150 years. Its ancestors were sucking little organisms off the bottom during the Devonian period, a time between 420 and 360 million years ago when some other fish were just starting to stump their way onto land. But the lake sturgeon was dealt a hard blow between about 150 and 100 years ago, when it was killed as a net-wrecking pest, then as a source of food. In some areas, sturgeon were dried out and their oily bodies were burned to power steam boilers on boats. Now the federal government, through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, is considering whether or not the lake sturgeon should be protected under the Species At Risk Act. They want to hear from people one way or the other. "They're magnificent fish," said Fred Hnytka, a DFO species at risk biologist based in Winnipeg. The Ontario angling record for lake sturgeon, according to the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, is for a Georgian Bay fish caught by Toronto's Edward Paszkowski at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River in May 1982. It weighed 168 pounds, was 69 inches long and 42 inches in girth. That's less that half the size of one Hnytka has information about. Some kids cornered one in the shallows of a small river south of Winnipeg in 1903, killed it with an axe and hauled it out of the water with a team of horses, he said. It was weighed at some grain elevator scales. "I think it weighed in at 402 pounds," he said. "It's the biggest sturgeon I've seen in Canada for fresh water anyway." Lake sturgeon in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron fall into the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence population, which is being considered for protection as threatened. If the Lakes population is listed, it would be illegal to catch, kill or harm a lake sturgeon here, he said, although certain exceptions might be allowed for accidental catches, research and due to native cultural significance. DFO would also have to come up with a recovery strategy for the Great Lakes population within two years. That could affect rivers where the fish spawn and activities including boating and fishing, Hnytka said, but that part of the process is a long way down the road. "We don't want to speculate on what's going to happen. When we do that we're almost always wrong anyway," he said. Part of the reason for getting public opinion about possible protection of the species is to allow officials to figure out what impact such protection might have on people. "I really do want to hear from the people out there," Hnytka said. "They have tremendous insight." They've already had feedback from across the country - the Great Lakes population is just one of eight under consideration for varying levels of protection - with most early submissions in favour of protection. Sturgeon may not be a sought-after sports fish, but there's now a one-fish catch and possession limit for holders of a regular fishing licence in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron and in Fisheries Zone 16, which includes Grey and Bruce counties. Sturgeon live slow and long. They first spawn when they are 20 to 25 years old and after that only reproduce every three to five years, Hnytka said. They spawn in riffles and rapids in rivers and what they lack in frequency they try to make up for in volume, with females able to produce up to a million eggs. "The problem with a lake sturgeon fishery is that these things don't reproduce that quickly and once you reduce the population they're very slow to come back," Hnytka said. While commercial fishing might have been a problem in the past, dams that block river access and flood out riffles and rapids are among the things hurting sturgeon now, Hnytka said. The deadline for submissions about protecting the sturgeon is April 25. There's lots of information about the process and the species at www.sararegistry.gc.ca - there's a search box where you can type in lake sturgeon, as well as links to a form to fill out. Comments can also be e-mailed to [email protected] or called in to 1-866-538-1609.

Big cat could set a record Not a state mark, would be tops for Percy Priest Lake MIKE ORGAN • tennessean.com • February 14, 2008 Picture Kham Payavong sounded excited when he called Don Mullins and Svan Do while the three men were fishing on Percy Priest Lake earlier this month. Payavong told Mullins and Do to bring their boat to his location. He had something to show them. "He said he'd caught a big fish,'' Mullins said. "He said it was a catfish so I figured it might have been 20 or 25 pounds." When they pulled up Mullins and Do were astonished to see Payavong struggling to hold up a humongous blue catfish that was nearly as long as Payavong is tall. It was a 72-pounder, which, if certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will be the largest of its kind ever caught in Percy Priest. The current lake record is a 56-pound, 3-ounce blue catfish caught in 2006. The state record is a 112-pounder caught in 1998 in the Cumberland River. After stabilizing his boat Mullins grabbed a digital camera and started snapping photos. "He had a hog — it was a monster,'' Mullins said. "Both of them (Payavong and Do) couldn't hardly hold it up. It was kind of slick and just so big." 45-minute struggle Payavong, who was fishing alone, wasn't even trying to catch catfish. He was fishing for yellow bass and crappie using only 14-pound test line, a small hook and a minnow. "I don't fish for catfish. I don't like to eat catfish, I only eat crappie and yellow bass,'' Payavong said. But the big catfish took Payavong's minnow, headed for deeper water and the fight was on. "It took me 45 minutes to get him in,'' Payavong said. "He fought me. I knew I had a big fish while I was trying to get him in. I didn't know what kind it was." When Payavong got the fish next to his boat he struggled to place a net around it but was able to get rope through its gills and haul it into the boat. Payavong took the fish to several places to have it weighed but was unable to find a scale large enough. He finally went to Bass Pro Shops, which weighed the fish. Record designation Payavong, who is retired from the Nissan plant in Smyrna, and his friends checked the state record for a blue catfish and learned it was the 112-pounder caught in the Cumberland. They were unaware records were kept for Percy Priest Lake. After learning his catfish was not a state record, Payavong cleaned and then filleted it. There is a chance, however, that the big blue cat still could be deemed a record for Percy Priest. Mark Vaughan, a conservation biologist in the Percy Priest Resource manager's office, is handling the case. "I have contacted the Tennessee Wildlife Recourses Agency for guidance on the matter to determine if consideration can be given for lake record status,'' Vaughan said. "Record or not, it's one big cat."

....Looks like you'll get the chance Dan. I've managed to snag vacation from August 7th to September 2nd....inclusive. That's 26 consecutive days off and I'm only working 9 days in July and 10 days in June. It's shaping up to be a good summer. My only goal is to enjoy it.

Smelt low, herring high in Lake Superior February 9, 2008 ironwooddailyglobe.com As smelt numbers in Lake Superior have plunged, native herring have exploded. Fisheries biologists aren't quite sure why that has happened, but it has provided a bonanza for fishermen who like to catch herring through the ice. Herring are also important baitfish for lake trout and other fish species. The Department of Natural Resources has catch rate charts showing that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when smelt numbers plummeted, herring rebounded dramatically. Herring peaked around 1993, then dropped down next to nothing around 2000. Since then, however, herring have again shot up. Mike Seider, a DNR fisheries biologist from Bayfield, discussed the fluctuating herring populations with Saxon Harbor area fishermen late last month. "We know 1989 was a big year class for herring, but some years are busts," Seider said. "That's probably the norm for Lake Superior," he said, referring to the sporadic year classes. While the herring population has bounced up and down like a pinball over the past decade, smelt numbers have remained very low for that entire period, showing no signs of rebounding. "Smelt numbers are way down. Lake trout are preying on them, munching on them," Seider said. There are more fish predators throughout the lake and that has caused growth rates of species like lake trout to decrease, Seider said. "A typical lake trout today grows slower than it did 20 years ago," he said. In addition, with fewer smelt in shallow water and more lake trout in the lake system, stocked salmon are having a harder time surviving. Seider said better regulations, including fish refuges, and the control of sea lamprey have helped lake trout rebound and have a better chance of surviving to an older age, although Saxon Harbor fishermen believe excessive gill netting is working against the chance of a laker living very long. With all of the herring in the lake, mixed with a few smelt, the DNR believes the native prey fish population is adequate to support native fish populations, however.

Yeast could be the key to ending lake invaders February 11, 2008 BY TINA LAM / FREE PRESS A Michigan company says it thinks it may have a promising solution to fight a huge Great Lakes problem -- invasive species dumped from the ballast of oceangoing ships. EcologiQ, a Troy firm, hopes a tiny form of yeast it has patented can rid ships of dangerous invasive organisms that lurk in their ballast tanks by starving them of oxygen. When ships travel without cargo, they take on water for stability. When they take on cargo, they discharge the water from their tanks. Ballast water often contains bacteria, viruses and the adult and larval stages of plants and animals. Those originating in freshwater in places such as eastern Europe's Black Sea could survive and proliferate once released in the Great Lakes, causing serious harm. For example, invasive zebra and quagga mussels and round gobies, have led to a chain reaction producing botulism that has killed more than 50,000 waterfowl in three of the Great Lakes since 1999. Zebra mussels also have clogged water intake pipes throughout the Great Lakes and cost communities millions to clear away. The new product, BallaClean, works by removing the oxygen in a closed space or body of water and suffocating live organisms that could turn into unwanted invaders once released into the Great Lakes. The company is testing the product in hopes of getting it certified in various countries. The firm says it offers a smaller, simpler and cheaper solution for shippers than other methods on the market. Environment Canada has tested BallaClean and found that it does not harm the environment. The tiny yeast replicates repeatedly until all the oxygen is removed from the water it's in, said Dr. Robert Bilkovski, a former Henry Ford Hospital emergency room physician and vice president of the company. Once it has killed other organisms, the yeast goes dormant. When it's released from the tank into a lake, it becomes harmless fish food, Bilkovski said. More than 100 invaders have been introduced into the Great Lakes over the last century. Many were first found in Michigan where ships discharged ballast. By 2016, the International Maritime Organization could require all ships to install treatment systems to disinfect their ballast water, but the treaty still must be ratified by dozens of countries. Environmental groups say 2016 is too late. Now, ships either swish saltwater through their tanks to kill freshwater organisms or dump their ballast water in the ocean before entering the Great Lakes. Either method can leave tiny creatures in the sediment in the tanks. Scientists say treatment is the only real solution to stop future invaders. Bills before Congress would require tougher standards and a speedier timetable for ships entering U.S. ports. But so far, the legislation hasn't passed, partly because of lobbying from the shipping industry, which says the measures are too costly. The State of Michigan has required ballast water treatment since last year, but since no other states do, it doesn't solve the problem. Bilkovski said EcologiQ plans to request approval for BallaClean from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "If it's something we can demonstrate works and is effective, it's something we can work with," said MDEQ spokesman Bob McCann. Four other treatment methods already are approved by the state, said Roger Eberhardt with the DEQ's Office of the Great Lakes. Competition to come up with systems to treat ballast water is fierce. Some remedies in the works or already developed use chemicals, filtration, deoxygenation by injecting a gas, ozone, irradiation or ultrasound to zap critters in ballast. Many have restraints, such as cost, size or an inability to kill all types of organisms. Bilkovski said his firm works to balance ecology with economics. "We think we have the best product," he said. Bilkovski also said he is proud that a local company is working on the problem. "How great would it be to say 'We've got a Michigan company helping with this'?" he said.

Leaked report on the Great Lakes is a wake-up call High levels of pollution pose a health threat. U.S., Canadian decision-makers keep public in the dark for fear of lawsuits, expensive cleanups, scientist says WILLIAM MARSDEN, / The Gazette Thursday, February 14 At least 9 million people living on the United States side of the Great Lakes basin may be in danger from high levels of chemical pollution, according to a secret study that has been withheld from the public. The study was kept secret from the public for seven months until this week when it was leaked to the Centre for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C. The 400-page study was done by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on behalf of the International Joint Commission, which oversees issues relating to the joint management of the Great Lakes. The study shows there are 26 "areas of concern (AOC)," where there are elevated levels of illnesses that can be traced to pollution. These areas of concern are spread out through all five of the Great Lakes with particular intensity in Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo. More than 9 million people live inside the boundaries of these AOCs. The report states that illness in the populations "compares unfavourably ... with the U.S. population." For instance, the report identifies elevated levels of infant mortality in 26 AOCs, and of premature births in four AOCs. The study also identified 108 hazardous waste sites, of which 71 are or could be public health hazards. Powerful lake currents can distribute the chemical and hydrocarbon pollutants including dioxins throughout the Great Lakes system and down the St. Lawrence River. Migratory marine life such as eels, which swim from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, also distribute the pollutants. The study mirrors a series of reports previously done by Health Canada in the 1990s that revealed 17 Canadian AOCs, where there were elevated levels of illnesses that could be traced to pollution. When the Canadian reports were printed in 1998 they also were kept from the public. In this case, Health Canada circulated them only to public health officials in the 17 AOCs. One study was leaked to a reporter in Windsor, Ont., in 2000, forcing Health Canada to release the rest. The Americans have claimed that their study was suppressed because the science was substandard. Michael Gilbertson, a former International Joint Commission scientist who was one of three scientists to peer review the U.S. study, said the reasons behind the suppression were political. "Their real reason is that in the States and also in Canada at the moment there is really a reluctance within the governments to acknowledge that there are any effects of these chemicals on fish or wildlife or on human health," he said. Gilbertson said the governments are afraid of lawsuits and expensive cleanups. "I mean you can find sources of chemicals in the environment," he said. "But if you actually find effects, this has a connotation of liability. Governments are extremely reluctant to allow their scientists to start making statements about the effects of chemicals on fish, wildlife or on humans. Particularly on humans." The Canadian study, for example, found a series of outbreaks of Minamata disease in Thunder Bay, Collingwood, Sarnia and Cornwall. Minamata disease, which includes cerebral palsy among its symptoms, is caused by mercury poisoning. Each of the affected areas had large chlor-alkali plants that used mercury for making chlorine. At various times between 1948 and 1995, these plants released 742 tonnes of mercury into the Great Lakes. Mercury dumped in Sarnia went down the St. Claire River to Lake St. Claire and then down the Detroit River to Lake Erie. Canadian research has also found an inexplicable drop in the male-female ratio on the Aamjiwnaang Reserve near Sarnia. The number of male babies had dropped 40 per cent in the mid-1990s. The reserve is surrounded by 46 large chemical plants and refineries. Furthermore, Health Canada studies showed, the Windsor area suffered from much higher mortality and morbidity rates than in the rest of Ontario. The federal government and the province of Ontario launched a program in 2000 to reduce pollution in the Great Lakes. So far, two areas - Collingwood and nearby Severn Sound - have been removed from the AOC list. To see the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention report go to www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx

Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water Delivers $30 Million to Clean Up Lake Simcoe BARRIE, Ontario, January 16, 2008 - Canada's Environment Minister John Baird, and the Honourable Peter Van Loan, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, today announced new, long-term funding to preserve and protect the environment of Lake Simcoe. The additional $18 million announced builds on the $12 million that was announced last year by the federal government and brings the Government's total investment to $30 million over five years. "Canadians want to know what this government is doing about improving water quality and I want to tell them we are moving quickly to restore the health of our lakes and waterways as we promised we would," said Minister Baird. "Today's announcement builds upon the significant financial commitment we have already made to cleaning up Lake Simcoe, as well as our announcement that we will be restricting the level of phosphates in laundry and dishwasher detergent across Canada. This will have a positive impact on reducing the growth of blue-green algae, an issue I know the residents around Lake Simcoe have faced." This investment to clean up Lake Simcoe is part of our Government's Action Plan for Clean Water, which includes projects like the Health of the Oceans initiative to protect Canada's three oceans, the clean up of Randle Reef in Hamilton Harbour and action on pollution going into Lake Winnipeg. "Our commitment of $30 million to Lake Simcoe will get the job done and the work starts this year," said Minister Van Loan. "Canadians expect action from government to deal with the pressing environmental issues of today, and we are taking action now for all the people who make their home around Lake Simcoe." Other measures to protect water quality include regulations later this year to reduce pollutants in sewage and improving raw sewage treatment in municipalities and First Nation communities across Canada.These new rules, when combined with regulations to reduce phosphate and with the $8 billion allocated in the Building Canada plan to improve sewage treatment, will enhance water quality and protect the health of Canadians. Lake Simcoeprovides drinking water to eight municipalities and is known for its recreation industry, which generates more than $200 million in annual revenues. The region supports farming and recreational fishing and has recently undergone significant increased urban development. Backgrounder $30 Million for Cleaning up Lake Simcoe - Part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water The Government of Canada believes that clean, safe and secure water is something all Canadians have the right to enjoy. That is why the Federal Government is taking action to preserve and protect Lake Simcoe. Residents around the lake are seeking solutions and the Government of Canada, through a $30-million, five-year Clean-Up Fund is helping them restore the health of the Lake. As many local residents know, the health of Lake Simcoe has been steadily declining for many years. The primary environmental challenge for Lake Simcoe is declining water quality due to pollution from land-based rural and urban sources. Lake Simcoe's annual phosphorus inputs are two to three times the natural level . This is causing excessive algae growth and robbing the lake of oxygen, affecting the cold water fish community, wildlife and overall water quality. As we just announced yesterday, our Government is taking action and will be limiting phosphates in laundry and dishwasher detergents. Along with our plans to ban the dumping of raw sewage and improve sewage treatment across Canada, this should have a positive effect on the environment and Lake Simcoe. The initiative is expected to improve water quality for recreational use, substantially reduce phosphorous loads from urban and rural sources and advance the restoration of a sustainable cold water fishery and the ecological integrity of Lake Simcoe. The Lake Simcoe Clean-Up Fund is part of the government's Action Plan for Clean Water. It will be used to help reduce the amount of phosphorous getting into streams and rivers feeding the lake and will help restore fish and wildlife populations. The Fund will be administered by Environment Canada in consultation with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Province of Ontario, the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority and other key stakeholders. The Lake Simcoe Clean-Up Fund will be used to support projects by federal, provincial and municipal governments, the conservation authority, non-governmental and community organizations, land owners and Aboriginal communities such as: ....Reducing rural and urban pollution to cut phosphorous overloads; ....Rehabilitating and stewardship of fish and wildlife habitats; ....Improving information and monitoring for decision-making; and ....Controlling pollution from sewage, sewer overflow and storm water. This Fund will not support capital or operating costs for municipal infrastructure, such as sewage treatment plants. Lake Simcoe is the fourth largest lake in Ontario and is a major recreational area, located just north of Toronto. Lake Simcoe is known for its recreational fishery, which augments a tourism industry generating more than $200 million a year. The region supports farming and has recently undergone increased urban development. The lake provides drinking water to eight municipalities.

Bait fish need ‘disease-free' certificate Regulation designed to stop spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia Feb 12, 2008 By SCOTT BRAND sooeveningnews.com EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA - Minnow-toting anglers need more than just their rods, reels, hooks and augers when they head out onto the ice under relatively new regulations governing this activity. Fisherman will also need to show their receipts declaring their minnows “disease-free” or specifying the location where they were collected as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources works to contain the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) - a disease which can devastate fish populations. “It's a bad disease,” said Lake Superior Coordinator Steve Scott of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “It does bad things when it gets in the water.” Scott's assertion is backed by evidence compiled from outbreaks in the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Clare County's Budd Lake - where large-scale mortality occurred. “It shuts down their whole system,” said Scott, noting the fish frequently perish from internal hemorrhaging. The Lake Superior Basin is believed to be unaffected by VHS, and officials hope the new regulations will keep the disease from gaining a foothold in our waterways. While there has been a grace period as bait dealers and anglers adjust to the receipt regulation, Scott indicated that could be drawing to a close. “I think law enforcement will be stepping up their efforts pretty soon,” Scott predicted. Under the new regulations, it is the angler responsibility to get a receipt - which either declares the bait disease-free or specifies where the minnows were collected - before leaving the bait shop. “If you don't get a receipt, you need to ask for a receipt,” said Scott. Receipts are good for up to seven days after they are issued. Scott explained Michigan officials really had three options after VHS was discovered. The first was to outlaw minnows, but that would harm bait dealers and put a damper on fishing activity. The second possibility was to do nothing and allow the disease to spread unchecked. After dismissing both of those options, authorities went with the receipt-mechanism hoping to keep infected fish from being introduced into uninfected waters. Additional regulations will also come into play during the warmer months, as fisheries biologists are instructing anglers to empty all of their livewells at the boat ramp before departing. “VHS stays alive for a long time in water,” said Scott. The use of receipts and livewell draining, Scott added, are good deterrents not only for VHS, but other diseases which may impact fish populations in the future. “The precautions taken are a good practices for anglers to get into,” he concluded. While VHS can have a devastating impact on fish populations, it does not appear to be harmful to humans. For more information on the VHS regulations visit the DNR's Web site at www.michigan,gov/dnrfishing.

News Release Government Takes Action to Ensure Clean Water for Canadians: Phosphates in Detergents to be Heavily Restricted Montreal, Quebec, February 15, 2008 -The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment and the Honourable Michael M. Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, today announced action on restricting the level of phosphates in laundry and dishwasher detergent. This will have a positive impact on reducing the growth of blue-green algae in our rivers, lakes and streams. "Last summer, Canadians in many parts of the country saw an increase in the growth of blue-green algae, restricting their ability to enjoy many summer holiday locations," said Minister Baird. "It's time to act. Our Government is taking action and will be limiting phosphates in laundry and dishwasher detergents. Along with our plans to ban the dumping of raw sewage and improve sewage treatment across Canada, today's action should have a positive effect on the environment." The Government is proposing to amend regulations in order to reduce the amount of phosphates added to laundry detergents and, for the first time in Canadian history, limit the amount found in dishwasher detergents and general purpose cleaners. By 2010, the Government will set a limit of 0.5% by weight for laundry and dishwasher detergents and, where analysis indicates, in general purpose cleaners. "Canadians have spoken and this Government has listened. Today, we are taking real action to protect our rivers, lakes and streams from blue-green algae," said Minister Fortier. "I know this has been an important issue in the province of Quebec and today's action is another step towards improving our waterways for the enjoyment of all." Phosphates are used in certain detergents and cleaning products to soften water, reduce spotting and rusting, hold dirt, and increase performance. However, too many phosphates in our water can lead to an over production of blue-green algae. Though blue-green algae are naturally-occurring, in large quantities they can emit a harmful level of toxins. This can lead to poor water quality and force the closure of beaches in warm temperatures. "I also want to acknowledge the work of provinces like Quebec and Manitoba in regulating phosphates," said Minister Baird. "I know that Premiers Charest and Doer, along with Ministers Beauchamp and Melnick are facing serious blue-green algae challenges in their respective provinces, and I believe today's action by the federal government demonstrates that when we work together, we can achieve great things." The action the Government is taking today by proposing these regulations complement the proposed tough new national standards that will be set for sewage dumping and sewage treatment. These actions are key to improving water quality and protecting the health of Canadians. For more information, please contact: Eric Richer Press Secretary Office of the Minister of the Environment (819) 997-1441 Environment Canada Media Relations (819) 934-8008 1-888-908-8008

....Permission granted. and welcome aboard.

....FishFarmer caught something, I don't believe it! Guess I'll try and get down there this afternoon.

Cultivating perch for fish fries, posterity Mary Bergin — 2/11/2008 The Capital Times Work has begun in Milwaukee to save the yellow perch fish fry from disappearing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MILWAUKEE -- Perch fry purists get into the habit of asking "ocean" or "lake" before making a restaurant reservation, but "Great Lakes" or "Eurasian" also is a relevant part of the inquiry. A significant percentage of lake perch served during fish fries comes from Europe or Asia, says a researcher at the University of Toledo, and this is a part of what fuels UW-Milwaukee's work to raise yellow perch in a controlled environment. The motive is twofold: It preserves the species, and it enhances food production. A long-term goal is to make perch farming a viable aquaculture industry. The challenge is to "keep the product authentic but enable the commercial production of it," says J. Val Klump, director of the Great Lakes Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research (WATER) Institute. "The yellow perch market tends to be insatiable," he says. "If we can find a way to produce them, the demand will be there." Think of his scientists "as pioneers in the effort to keep yellow perch a favorite of the Friday night fish fry," suggests a brochure about the program's mission. Big fish dive The Lake Michigan perch population took a nosedive in the 1990s, dropping 95 percent from its high of 24 million. Zebra mussels, other invasive species, lake current changes and overfishing accounted for the change. The state Department of Natural Resources dropped the sport fishing limit from 50 to five perch per day in the mid 1990s. Commercial fishing of yellow perch, at a high of 475,000 pounds per day in Green Bay waters in the mid 1990s, hit a low of 20,000 a few years ago and presently is 100,000 pounds. No commercial fishing of perch is allowed on Lake Michigan, says William Horns, Great Lakes fisheries specialist at the DNR. The Green Bay and Lake Michigan perch populations are considered separate, he adds, for purposes of management. Klump predicts more than half of the fish we eat will be raised in controlled environments in 20 years, as a response to the anticipated collapse of the world's seafood population by 2048 and heightened concerns about world security issues. "Much of what seafood we eat is imported," says Fred Binkowski, senior scientist. "We don't know where it's growing, what it's eating" or what additives may be introduced into the diet. A fish fry with the European zander, for example, resembles walleye in taste. An entree billed as Florida grouper actually might be Asian catfish, or another fish of cheaper quality. So says Carol Stepien, genetic testing specialist and director of the Lake Erie Center at the University of Toledo. She played "fish detective" last year, at the request of a Milwaukee customer, to see whether perch in fish fries actually came from the Great Lakes. The answer was "no" in two of five cases. "I doubt if anyone could tell the difference in a taste test," Stepien says, of Eurasian vs. Great Lakes perch, and "it is lake perch, so I don't know how closely this could be regulated." From a genetic perspective, the two types of perch are close relatives but different species that became distinct 4 million to 5 million years ago. "It's like telling a human from a chimpanzee," Stepien says. Milwaukee research Milwaukee's WATER Institute raises and studies yellow perch from North Carolina, Chesapeake Bay and Lake Winnebago. Each stock is kept separate, to maintain genetic integrity, but there also is cross-breeding, to produce yellow perch that are fast-growing and more disease-resistant. Every two weeks, scientists measure fish length and width, size of fillet, nitrogen levels, water content and other factors. The Lake Winnebago stock grows noticeably slower than the other two groups, the scientists say, but colorization is better. The researchers are able to raise yellow perch to market size in 12 months, roughly one-half the time that is typical. Since conditions are controlled, mortality from invasive species is not a known factor in survival. The stock's diet is controlled, too, and costly. When in the wild, these fish are bottom feeders that eat plankton to worms, insect larvae to minnows. In an aquaculture setting, "it's $1,000 per ton of food, and much are lost to mortality, compared to $100 per ton of food in the poultry industry," says Brian Shepherd, research physiologist with the USDA. Food content is of concern. The typical fish food is made up of fish from unknown sources and diet exposure. "You need cradle-to-grave control of your product," Klump says, "raising it from your own captive brood stock." Although "we have to get away from using fish food to feed fish," Binkowski also says "there needs to be diet work done. No large supply of fish food is available that is based on plant material." He acknowledges the challenge to maintain integrity of taste: "You don't want your perch to taste like potatoes" because that is what the fish eats. Klump says perch aquaculture research is "just beginning" and is confined to the indoors at his place because "in ponds you're subject to fluctuations in the environment, and security is an issue." He is referring to a wide range of contaminants, from the deliberate dumping of toxic chemicals to the diseased bird that drops feces while flying over water. "Ten years from now, private investors will be pouring more money into this" because of consumer demand for aquaculture fish. Only 99 U.S. farms raised yellow perch in 2005, of which 29 were in Wisconsin. Supply and demand The value of yellow perch caught commercially in 2004 was $2.5 million (1.6 million pounds), a decline from the previous year's intake of $2.9 million and 1.7 million pounds, says the National Marine Fisheries Service. Less than 2 percent of U.S. seafood comes from the Great Lakes region. The market price of European harvested yellow perch is one-fourth to one-third that of Great Lakes perch, which sells at the retail level for $15 per pound or more. "You aren't likely to get $9.99 for fish fries in the Great Lakes and have them be Great Lakes perch," is the way Stepien sees it, and she's at a loss to explain "why it costs so much less to import these fish," especially when transportation of product is considered. The 14,000 yellow perch so far raised to market size at the WATER Institute tend to head to Schwarz Fish Co. in Sheboygan, for filleting and sale. The WATER Institute has been known to keep a stash, too, for serving the occasional dignitary. Staff researcher Dan Szmania, who also is the staff cook, breaded and fried 60 pounds of perch during a meal for U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago and others touring the WATER Institute. Kohl had played a key role in securing federal money for aquaculture research. Why is it all such a big deal, if Great Lakes and Eurasian perch taste pretty much the same? Return to Stepien's "human vs. chimp" observation for a clue. "We must preserve the species," she says, "or you'll lose your native strains."