The map below was displayed during a presentation given on June 3, 1998 by Mr. David Ullrich, Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA Region 5 at the Annual Meeting of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.  

His comments included:  
“We still have a ways to go before we achieve a truly healthy Great Lakes ecosystem:  We still have advisories in effect against consuming Great Lakes fish in all of the Great Lakes and virtually all of their major tributaries.  

As this 1996 snapshot of the number of fish advisories in effect in the U.S. show, the Great Lakes states tend to have the highest number of advisories.” Ulrich added “Although this trend is partly a reflection of our diligence in monitoring the public health, it nevertheless points to the need to go farther in our efforts to reduce toxics in the Great Lakes.”  

There are a total of 2,739 fish consumption advisories in the U.S. 1,538 or 56% of them are in the 8 Great Lakes states, making up 16% of the total number of states.  The 11 states adjoining the Great Lakes states (22% of total states) have 439 or 16% of the total advisories.  

Simply put, 16% - or 8 - of the states have 56% of the nation's fish advisories, and the 11 states adjoining them (22% of total states) have 16% of the nation's advisories.  

To further illustrate the disparities between states: Indiana has 167  advisories while its neighboring state, Kentucky, has only 6 advisories. All that separates the two states is the Ohio River.  

Minnesota has the most advisories in the nation - 709, or 26% of the total. Its’ three non-Great Lakes bordering states total only 37: 35 in North Dakota, 0 in South Dakota and 2 in Iowa.

Momentarily stunned, Ullrich responded after the audience's chuckling subsided, “Restore the Great Lakes ecosystem to what it was originally."  

FWS Director Jamie Rappaport Clark, also a commissioner, further confounded the audience by stating, “Lake trout and sturgeon are at the center of the  Service's vision for the Great Lakes."   

While 42 of the states have fish consumption advisories with PCB action levels of 2.0 ppm, the 8 Great Lakes states' PCB action levels are .05 ppm, a difference or magnification of forty (40).   

Until 1995-96, the eight Great Lakes states also used the same PCB action levels of 2.0 ppm that were used by the rest of the country.  However, through persuasion and other means, EPA Region 5 officials were able to obtain the changes in the Great Lakes advisories to .05 ppm. Nowhere else in the country are these PCB action levels to be found.  
 
 

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States share $272 Million (7-13-98).    Minn legislature ok's bill to protect hunting     and fishing (7-13-98).

Natural Resources Minister John Snobelen has announced that anglers may now use two lines while fishing from a boat in the Canadian waters of most of 
Lake Ontario. Anglers are allowed to fish with two lines in the New York State waters of Lake Ontario, as well as in the open waters of Lake Erie. 

Lake Ontario provides an exciting and diverse sport fishery for salmon and trout. In 1997, anglers spent more than 500,000 hours fishing from boats on the lake and caught more than 70,000 salmon and trout. 

Anglers may use two lines while fishing from a boat in the open waters of Lake Ontario in Divisions 2 and 8, except in the Bay of Quinte, Presqu'ile Bay, Wellers Bay, East Lake, West Lake, Frenchmans Bay, Hamilton Harbour, and all tributaries of Lake Ontario. 
 

The majority of anglers on Lake Ontario support the change. Of the 300 questionnaires completed during public consultation, 80 per cent favoured allowing the use of two lines. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters also supports the proposal.

The newest edition of the Minnesota Game and Fish Laws and Rules has just been published by the DNR. It provides more laws and more detailed information than the law synopses published by the DNR, such as the Minnesota Hunting and Trapping Regulations and the Minnesota Fishing Regulations. 

Volume I includes sections related to DNR duties and powers, harmful exotic species, game and fish, hunting, fishing, restricted species, aquaculture development, bounties on animals, landowner liability, restoration of civil rights, possession of firearms, gun control, and giving false name to peace officers. 

Volume 2 presents the rules noted in various chapters and covers topics such as restitution values for fish and wildlife, critical habitat, game and fish general regulations, licenses, permits and exemptions, migratory birds, turkeys, falcons, big game, shooting on preserves and game farms, frogs, mussels and turtles, ginseng, wild rice, commercial fishing, wildlife management and more. The books are softcover, with a total of 721 pages plus indexes. 
 

Fax credit card orders are accepted 24-hours at (651) 297-8260. Request Stock No. 2-8 and be certain to include a credit card number, expiration date and name of card holder. 

Mail orders are accepted with payment by check payable to Minnesota's Bookstore or by credit card. Minnesota residents should include payment of $19.99 (which includes shipping plus 61/2 percent sales tax); St. Paul residents should include $20.07 (shipping plus 7 percent sales tax).

A series of four road checks in Minnesota aimed at curbing the spread of exotic species found that most boaters are responding to the call to remove aquatic plants from boats and trailers. However, a few who continue to ignore the warnings got a stronger message from Minn DNR enforcement officials. 

The road checks were held south of Park Rapids on July 2, near Orono on July 19, along Highway 10 near Elk River on July 24, and outside Chisago City on Aug. 1. Boaters traveling through the area were instructed to pull into road check areas where DNR watercraft inspectors and conservation officers inspected boats and trailers, and talked to boaters about the harm of transporting exotic species such as Eurasian watermilfoil or zebra mussels. 

Four State DNRs call for lakewide meeting  
on Lake Michigan Fish stocks  

The Lake Michigan Management Agencies (LMMA) comprised of the DNRs of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin and the Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority are again sponsoring a Lake Michigan lakewide conference similar in format to the coho and perch conferences held in 1994. This one is on maintaining a sustainable Lake Michigan salmonid fishery at existing stocking levels. 

The Lake Michigan sport fishery has been maintained through a lakewide trout and salmon stocking program that has averaged 14.7 million fish annually over the past 22 years. During this time, additional knowledge has been gained regarding the potential disruptions to the fishery resulting from natural reproduction and changes in survival rates of stocked fish from different sources. The management agencies are concerned that a stocking regimen that does not incorporate this current understanding of salmonid recruitment will eventually result in an unbalanced fishery similar to the Chinook collapse witnessed a few years ago. 

One step toward addressing this concern was the formation of a Salmonid Stocking Task Group in 1996. This Task Group was assigned the task of developing a management tool for evaluating the relationship between numbers of salmonids stocked and the consumption level of forage fish.

At the request of the LMMA, the conference is again being hosted by the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council and again being facilitated by the Great Lakes Sea Grant network. Michigan Sea Grants Chuck Pistis has again agreed to be the moderator for the day's program. There is a $15 conference registration fee for ALL attendees to help defray expenses. Registration received after September 8 or at the door is $20 - on a space available basis. 

The conference is being held at the Lake Michigan College, Mendel Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan on September 12, 1998, 8:30 AM - 4 PM. Directions to the conference site and lodging options follow the 
registration form. 

Use the registration form below and mail in with your check to GLSFC, P.O. Box 297, Elmhurst, IL 60126.

MAIL to: GLSFC, P.O. Box 297, Elmhurst, IL 60126 
Make check payable to GLSFC - stocking conference 

Name_________________________________________Phone_________________Fax________________ 

Address_______________________________________City/State/Zip______________________________ 

Organization________________________________E-mail________________________________________ 

REGISTRATION FEE: $15.00 PER PERSON                              Amount enclosed: $_________________ 

Registration after Sept. 8: $20.00/Person 
(on a space available 
basis)_______________________________________________________________________________________ 

DIRECTIONS: From I-94, exit at Exit 30, Napier Ave. (east). Drive 1 ¼ miles to Yore Avenue (just past the 
College's main entrance). Turn left (north), the Mendel Center will be ½ mile down Yore on the left. 

LODGING OPTIONS: All prices are plus tax 

Park Inn International (616) 429-3218 $51.00 double, $45.00 single 
Exit 23 off I-94 Contact: Larry Wozniak Mention GLFC when registering 

The Boulevard Hotel     (616) 983-6600     Exit 27 off I-94 

Budgetel Inn                (616) 428-9111     Exit 23 off I-94 

Comfort Inn                  (616) 925-1880     Exit 29 off I-94 

Courtyard by Marriott    (616) 925-3000     Exit 29 off I-94 

Hampton Inn                (616) 429-2700     Exit 23 off I-94 

Quality Inn                   (616) 925-3234    Exit 28 off I-94 

Ramada Inn                  (616) 927-1172    Exit 28 off I-94 

Red Roof Inn                 (616) 927-2484    Exit 29 off I-94 

St. Joseph Hotel            (616) 983-7341    Exit 27 off I-94 

Check for discounts (AARP, Allstate, Corporate, Sams, Senior, etc.).