TOPIC:

www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/tru...ml#incart_river_home

The White House is proposing to slash Environmental Protection Agency funding that pays for Great Lakes pollution cleanup by 97 percent, according to a budget document obtained by the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

The potential cuts are part of President Donald Trump's initial 2018 budget proposal, detailed in a U.S. Office of Management and Budget "passback" to the EPA that outlines drastic cuts to an agency Trump has called a "job killer" and promised to reduce to "tidbits" as a candidate.

The proposal would virtually eliminate annual Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding, slashing it from $300 million to $10 million among other cuts that would altogether reduce the EPA's total budget by a quarter

Although this is just a budget proposal at this point and there is bi-partisan support for the Great Lakes, the GLRI money has been shrinking for some time.

Now the funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is being targeted for a 97% cut. To put it lightly, this is extremely alarming

To give you an idea of what that would mean for the fishery:

The Mass Marking program that clips and tags chinooks and lake trout (and steelhead starting this year) would be all but eliminated. That would mean we would completely lose track of how much wild reproduction is going on. It'd also cripple our ability to know which stocking sites are doing well or doing poorly. Almost all of our management of the salmonid sport fishery relies on a functional Mass Marking project. Without it we're operating in the dark and the risk of fishery collapse goes up substantially

The GLRI also helps clean up pollution, restore wetlands, monitor and prevent invasive species (including asian carp), helps develop programs and field action to control runoff that contriubte to toxic algae blooms (like the one that made Toledo's drinking water unsafe for a few weeks), pays for upgrades to national fish hatcheries, and literally hundreds of other critical projects
www.glri.us/projects/index.html

Thanks for the update Ben - alarming is right!

Thanks Ben,

not sure how much this old girl(Lake Michigan) is going to be able to take. Attack on all fronts, pollution, invasives etc. The potential of losing a fishery and all the JOBS tied to it, isn't the answer. Lets not forget where Our drinking water comes from.
Each of the Great Lakes will see problems, some more then others, but all will and just as we are making head way.

any idea how much could be affected in lamprey control?

Most of the lamprey control falls outside of GLRI

but some smaller projects involving feasibility studies and other research have been done with GLRI money in the past