Newsletter - Friday 3/23/2012

Deal would settle suit over Lake Michigan resort

Saugutuck Township— Officials in southwestern Michigan have approved a proposed agreement to settle a lawsuit over a businessman's plans to build a resort along Lake Michigan.

The Township Board in Allegan County's Saugatuck Township voted 4-0 Wednesday night to approve the settlement that would resolve the lawsuit by Aubrey McClendon's development company Singapore Dunes LLC. The vote came following many objections raised by those in attendance.  more...

Stop all the trickery toward stopping assault of Asian carp

A clear and present danger looms larger by the day in the Great Lakes region that threatens the economic and environmental livelihood of 35 million residents.

To many in our region, that danger remains invisible. To all in our region, that danger poses significant risks that must be tackled pronto.

That danger is the deadly Asian carp, a breed of fish that can grow as large as 4 feet long and can weigh as much as 100 pounds. These underwater enemies eat like hogs, breed like bunnies and rip asunder any ecosystem in their path.

The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative call the carp the greatest damaging invasive species that has entered the Great Lakes in the last century.  more...

Minnesota DNR re-evaluates Lake Superior rainbow stocking

Just as the sun rises over Lake Superior on Tuesday morning, a lone angler hooks a Kamloops rainbow trout just west of the French River. He plays the fish quickly and slides it onto the pebbled beach. Without ceremony, he extracts his hook and walks the fish over the cobblestones, away from the lake.

The fish is a 6- or 7-pound male, sleek of body, long of jaw, silver with a blush of rose down its flank. A gorgeous fish. In the soft peach light of dawn, the angler lays the fish behind a piece of driftwood and goes back to his fishing.   more...

Chinese Fish for Meaning in U.S. Carp Rampage

Sometimes, Chinese netizens pay more attention to a U.S. news story than Americans do. President Barack Obama’s Feb. 23 decision to allocate $51.5 million to eradicate an invasive species known as the Asian carp is a prime example.

Outside of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, news of this carp-control strategy barely registered with the U.S. public. But on March 6, it hit China and, like a jazz trio riffing for an hour on just a few notes, microbloggers took to the minor news topic with gusto, using it to explore issues ranging from corrupt civil servants to U.S. sovereign debt. Soon it even had its own hash tag, roughly translated as #Asian Carp on an American Rampage#.  more...

Vanished shipwreck’s secret revealed

CLEVELAND — Twice during its 122-year history, the C.B. Lockwood has been swallowed up by Lake Erie.

On course from Duluth, Minn., to Buffalo and battling the fury of an October storm, the 285-foot wooden steamer first sank in 1902, crashing more than 70 feet below the waves just east of Cleveland.

The location of the Lockwood was not a mystery. With one look at historical data, its exact location — 13½ miles north by northwest off Fairport Harbor — easily can be found. But despite being armed with a figurative “X marks the spot,” shipwreck hunters have for decades been stumped by the empty expanse of Lake Erie muck where the Lockwood should be.  more...

Where are all the salmon?

Usually in March, Berrien County’s coast is becoming a salmon haven for fisherman. Not this year.

It’s a good day to fish for William Parker. Parker sat on St. Joseph’s pier Monday with three others and caught about three fish an hour. The fish Parker was catching weren’t the type he was hoping for this spring.

“I didn’t get my salmon stamp this year,” he said. “It didn’t seem like there were that many. Parker heard about the poor salmon fishing in Lake Michigan and opted to not even try.  more...

Prompted by recent violations, Coast Guard urges boaters to take advantage of free safety checks