Tag: Great Lakes

Categories
Cottage Life

A fireside chat with ChatGPT about cottaging in Canada

Ever since ChatGPT, an advanced chatbot created by OpenAI, was released to the public in November 2022, it has taken the internet by storm; disrupting academia and content creation with its ability to generate essays and SEO optimized blogs in a conversational tone. Before it became a paid tool, I sat down with ChatGPT for an interview on cottaging in Canada. While it wasn’t afraid to weigh in on where the best butter tarts can be found in Ontario—a controversial question for our readers who are passionate butter tart connoisseurs. (We like to think our story about the best butter tarts in Ontario is a more exhaustive list. You can read it here). Despite my probing, it was reluctant to offer up personal opinions or preferences and prefaced answers to questions of that nature with a disclaimer that it is only a language model.

While ChatGPT may have been trained using text databases from the internet, some of its answers included noticeable factual inaccuracies. When I asked it to rank the best Great Lakes for waterskiing, it incorrectly identified Lake St. Clair as a Great Lake. In a FAQ posted on ChatGPT’s website, it acknowledges that it is not connected to the internet and will produce incorrect answers on occasion. “It has limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021 and may also occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content.”

Note: This interview has been left unedited and incorrect information has been highlighted in yellow and explained in italics below the answer.

 

Q: Where is your favourite place to cottage in Canada?

A: As a language model, I don’t have personal preferences or experiences. However, Canada is known for its beautiful natural landscapes, and many people enjoy cottaging in locations such as Muskoka, Haliburton, and the Kawarthas in Ontario, the Laurentians in Quebec, and the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Each of these regions offer unique features and attractions such as lakes, forests, and mountains.

Q: What lake in Ontario has the most beautiful sunsets?

A: Different people have different opinions about what makes a sunset beautiful, but many people find that sunsets over lakes can be particularly stunning. In Ontario, there are many lakes known for their beautiful sunsets, including Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie. Some of the most popular lakes for sunsets in Ontario include Muskoka Lakes, Lake of Bays, and Georgian Bay. These lakes offer a variety of vantage points from which to view the sunset, such as boat cruises, waterfront cottages, and public parks.

Fact check: Muskoka Lakes is a municipality, and there are several lakes that reside within it. 

Q: Rank the Great Lakes in order of the best for waterskiing

A: The Great Lakes are known for their recreational opportunities, including waterskiing. However, the best lake for waterskiing would depend on factors such as the size of the lake, the quality of the water, the weather conditions, and the presence of ski clubs or other facilities. Here is a list of Great Lakes in order of popularity for waterskiing:

  1. Lake St. Clair: It is the smallest of the Great Lakes and has the warmest water. It is known to have great waves and flat water ideal for slalom skiing and barefoot skiing.
  2. Lake Huron: It has the longest shoreline of the Great Lakes and offers a variety of water conditions, from calm bays to large swells.
  3. Lake Michigan: It is known for its consistent wind, which can create excellent conditions for jumping and slalom skiing.
  4. Lake Erie: It is the warmest and shallowest of the Great Lakes, making it ideal for beginners and recreational skiers.
  5. Lake Superior: It is the largest and coldest of the Great Lakes, it is known for its beautiful scenery, but the water can be quite choppy and the wind can be strong, making it less ideal for waterskiing.
  6. Lake Ontario: It is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in surface area, it is known for its relatively calm waters, making it a good place for recreational waterskiing, but the water can be colder than the other lakes.

Please note that this is not a definitive ranking and other factors such as personal preference and skill level also play a role in determining the best lake for waterskiing.

Fact check: Lake St. Clair is not one of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes consist of Huron, Ontario, Erie, Superior, and Michigan.

Q: How would you define a cottage?

A: A cottage is typically defined as a small, simple, and usually old-fashioned vacation home or second home, typically located in a rural or semi-rural area such as near a lake or beach. Cottages are often used as summer homes or for weekend getaways. They are typically smaller than a primary residence and often have a rustic or cozy feel. Some cottages may have basic amenities such as a kitchen and bathroom, while others may be more rustic with outdoor facilities. Cottages may be owned or rented, and can be found in many different locations, such as in the countryside, by a lake, or on a beach.

Q: Where are the best butter tarts in Ontario?

A: Butter tarts are a popular treat in Ontario, Canada, and are known for their flaky pastry crust and gooey, sweet filling. The best butter tarts can be found in many places across the province, but some of the most popular locations include:

  1. Kawartha Dairy in Bobcaygeon, Ontario – They are famous for their butter tarts and are known to have the best butter tarts in Ontario.
  2. The Butter Tart Factory in Midland, Ontario – They have a wide variety of butter tarts, including traditional, pecan, raisin, chocolate, and more.
  3. Golden Harvest in Cambridge, Ontario – They offer homemade butter tarts using locally sourced ingredients.
  4. The Little Red Kitchen Bakery in Fenelon Falls, Ontario – They are known for their traditional butter tarts, and also offer unique flavors such as maple bacon and salted caramel.
  5. The Tart Lady in Toronto, Ontario – They offer a variety of flavors in their butter tarts, which are all made with real butter and locally sourced ingredients.

Please note that this is not a definitive list and there are many other bakeries and small businesses across Ontario that offer delicious butter tarts.

Fact check: Kawartha Dairy does not make their own butter tarts; they bring them in from Don’s Bakery. There is no Butter Tart Factory in Midland, Ont., however there is a butter tart festival. There is also no Golden Harvest bakery in Cambridge, however there is a Golden Hearth Bakery in Kitchener, Ont. According to their website, they don’t sell butter tarts. No bakery exists in Fenelon Falls under the name The Little Red Kitchen Bakery, however there is a Little Pie Shack, and they do sell butter tarts. I could find no record of a business in Toronto called The Tart Lady. However, there is a business called The Butter Tart Lady that is located in Manitoba.

Q: What is the best thing about cottaging in Canada?

A: Cottaging in Canada can be a wonderful experience due to the country’s beautiful natural landscapes and varied recreational opportunities. Some of the best things about cottaging in Canada include:

  1. Scenic beauty: Canada is known for its beautiful natural landscapes, including lakes, forests, and mountains. Cottaging in Canada allows you to enjoy the beauty of nature, with many cottages located in picturesque settings such as on the shore of a lake or in the heart of a forest.
  2. Recreational activities: Cottages are often located in areas where there are many recreational activities to enjoy, such as swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, and skiing.
  3. Relaxation: Being away from the hustle and bustle of city life and enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside can be a great way to relax and unwind.
  4. Family and social activities: Cottages are often used as a gathering place for families and friends and provide opportunities for socializing, playing games, and enjoying meals together.
  5. Affordable vacation: Cottages are often more affordable than hotels, which makes it a budget-friendly vacation option.
  6. Building memories: Cottage trips are often connected to fond memories of spending time with loved ones, enjoying the outdoors, and creating lasting memories.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and other factors such as personal preference, location, time of year and the weather may come into play when considering the best things about cottaging in Canada.

Feature Video


Categories
Cottage Life

How the U.S. Army Corps plans to stop the spread of invasive carp in the Great Lakes

Photo by Shutterstock/Vladimir Wrangel

The U.S. Army Corps is using its engineering know-how to create nightmarish river obstacles designed to prevent invasive species from reaching the Great Lakes.

The plan is part of a multi-layered solution intended to contain a growing population of invasive carp in the Illinois River. Over the next six to eight years, the regiment will outfit an engineered channel in the Brandon Road Lock on the Des Plaines River, just outside Chicago, with a series of high-tech barriers that will prevent invasive carp from travelling upstream to Lake Michigan while still allowing boats to pass through.

The first barrier will be underwater speakers that emit noise at a frequency that should turn carp away from entering the channel. Next is an air bubble curtain at the entrance to the channel designed to protect against any small carp that manage to slip through gaps formed by a vessel.

Once inside the channel, there will be more acoustic deterrents, followed by an electric barrier. The Corps plan to include electric insulation in the channel to reduce the safety risk to vessel operators and lock staff. Finally, there will be a flushing lock near the end of the channel. This would shoot water downstream through the lock, carrying away any fish eggs or larvae that managed to pass through the other barriers.

Invasive Carp Deterrent
Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps

Politicians and environmental groups are in full support of the high-tech gauntlet. “Invasive species are a growing threat to our entire inland waterways system and to the countless Illinois communities and businesses that rely on strong and vibrant aquatic ecosystems,” said U.S. senator Tammy Duckworth in a statement. “The Brandon Road Project is critical in protecting the Great Lakes’ exposure to [invasive] carp.”

The invasive carp, which include black carp, grass carp, silver carp, and bighead carp, were brought to North America from Asia in the 1960s and 70s, quickly taking root in U.S. waterways, driving out native species. The carp reproduce rapidly, eating up to 20 per cent of their body weight in plankton each day. They can weigh up to 40 kilograms, reaching a metre in length.

The invasive carp have replaced all native species in certain sections of the Mississippi River, and make up 50 per cent of the fish by weight in sections of the Illinois River. Both rivers feed into the Des Plaines River, which, through the Chicago River, connects to Lake Michigan.

How invasive carp catch a lift with ducks

Thanks to initiatives implemented by both the U.S. and Canadian governments, the carp have yet to establish themselves in the Great Lakes or any Ontario waterways. Although, a silver carp was captured in Lake Calumet, the largest body of water in Chicago, and only a few kilometres from Lake Michigan, in early August. After an intensive two-week monitoring period, no other invasive carp were spotted in the area.

Good enough to eat? This state is hoping to revamp Asian Carp’s image

If an invasive carp did manage to find its way into the Great Lakes, experts say they could decimate the region’s $7 billion-a-year fishing industry.

“We are on the verge of an unstoppable crisis for the Great Lakes region, and now is our best chance to stop these aggressive fish from crashing our economy and environment,” said Molly Flanagan, vice president on policy for Alliance for the Great Lakes, in a statement.

In January, U.S. President Joe Biden committed $225.8 million in funding to the Brandon Road project. This is enough to start pre-construction. The estimated cost for the entire project is over $858 million.

Based on current predictions, the corps plans to award construction contracts for the channel and barriers in 2024, with work expected to be complete between 2030 and 2032.

 

Categories
Cottage Life

Swimmer breaks record to raise funds for neurodegenerative disease research

Art by Taylor Kristan / photos by Sean Nuttall

Swimmer Sean Nuttall took on a 100-km swim across Lake Ontario to raise funds for neurodegenerative disease research, breaking the record for longest unassisted open-water swim by a Canadian in the process. 

Nuttall swam from his hometown of Toronto, Ont. to St. Catharines, Ont. and back—a trip which totalled 42 hours. Not only was this the longest unassisted open water swim by a Canadian, it was also the longest unassisted swim in Canadian waters, and the eighth longest on record in the world. 

Nuttall took on this challenge to commemorate his father who passed away five years ago after struggling with a neurodegenerative disease. His goal was to raise $50,000 for the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases out of the University of Toronto. “Because this was the five year anniversary and because this was the biggest swim that I had tried, I wanted to do something in his memory,” he says.

The swim was unassisted, which meant Nuttall couldn’t wear a lifejacket or wetsuit, or be helped by any currents. He was in the water from Friday at noon to early Sunday morning, swimming through both Friday and Saturday night. He only returned to land to briefly reapply sunscreen at the halfway point.

Nuttall had a crew in a boat to guide and accompany him as he swam. To help him refuel, Nuttall’s team would attach food and water to the end of a line of rope, and toss it out to him. Nuttall would retrieve the supplies and consume them while treading water, and his crew would reel the line back in. 

This wasn’t Nuttall’s first kick at the can as far as long-distance open-water swimming goes. He’d finished three other long-distance routes regarded as the “Triple Crown” of open-water swimming—the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. 

Other swims felt more physically demanding, says Nuttall, but this swim had its own set of challenges. On the second night of his swim, Nuttall started to feel incredibly cold. His team was monitoring his internal temperature, and despite how Nuttall was feeling, they found he was still maintaining his internal heat. Nuttall relied on their reassurance to continue through the frigidness, fear, and pain. “You’re basically naked other than a Speedo. And your reptilian brain is telling you this is not okay,” he says. “I relied really heavily on my crew to get me through that time.”

The swim also had some incredible high points, says Nuttall. He happened to be swimming during two astronomical events: August’s supermoon and the Perseid Meteor Shower. “Both nights I watched that huge orange orb come right up off the lake,” he says, adding that he could also see shooting stars from the meteor shower flying overhead. “It was magical.”

When his journey was finally over, Nuttall was greeted by a large group of loved ones who came out to show their support at Budapest Park in Toronto at around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. While many of his previous long distance swims finished in cathartic tears, this one ended with a moment of jubilation. “It really quickly just became a moment of shared joy,” he says. 

Nuttall says he is extremely close to reaching his fundraising goal, a mark he hopes he can still hit. While more long distance swims may be on the horizon eventually, Nuttall is now taking some time to recover. “My immediate goal is to be able to lift my arms again,” he says. 

Donations can be made at https://www.seanswims.org/.

Categories
Cottage Life

Are the Great Lakes in danger?

Photo by Wildnerdpix/Shutterstock

Canadians are proud of the Great Lakes, and for good reason—they supply two large countries with a lot of fresh drinking water, support irrigation and other agricultural activities, and are crucial in shipping and transportation in the area. Plus, they’re great for sailing, swimming and watching the sunset.

“Lakes are great indicators of what’s going on in the watershed,” says Sapna Sharma, an associate aquatic ecology and limnology professor at York University. “They give a good idea of what environmental degradation may be happening on land.”

A new study published in Bioscience looks at decades of lake research to understand how climate change is affecting lakes around the world, like Canada’s Great Lakes, which hold more than 20 per cent of the planet’s freshwater. Sharma, a key author in the study, explains what it all means.

The definitive ranking of the Great Lakes, according to Donovan Woods

Shorter ice seasons

“What we’re seeing in recent decades,” Sharma says, “is the decrease in the extent of ice cover.” Northern Hemisphere lakes are experiencing shorter winters and shortened frozen lake periods. Researchers estimate that nearly 15,000 lakes in the north that traditionally froze yearly, including the Great Lakes, are now going ice-free.

Since 1997, there have been four or five ice-free years. “When we go back to our records from 1857, this has never happened before,” says Sharma.

A 2015 study on lake temperature shows that almost 90 per cent of lakes are warming. And the 10 per cent that are not warming are cooling because of glacial ice melt or water clarity change.

“Ice acts like a lid on the lake in the winter,” Sharma explains. “When you remove that lid, there’s more freshwater evaporating.”

By the end of this century, the study reports the average annual lake evaporation is expected to increase by 16 per cent globally. Changes in ice cover, ice thickness, and snow cover are amplified in the Canadian Arctic where there are 24-hour-daylight summers.

How will the Great Lakes region be affected by climate change?

Warming waters

Winter evaporation directly decreases freshwater supply and warms water temperatures. This impacts food chains and helps invasive species spread. Warmer lakes favour nonnative, predator fish like the smallmouth bass, squeezing native fish out of the water.

Warm water also supports increased algae production. Eutrophication—a bloom of plant growth due to an excess of nutrients caused by sunlight, fertilizer, or even intense rainfall—becomes more common too. In Ontario’s Grand River Watershed, a historic rainfall increased the presence of fertilizing phosphorus and catapulted an unseasonably early bloom season.

There are reports of more common and later blooms happening throughout Ontario. Algonquin Provincial Park’s Dickson Lake experienced a toxic bloom that led the park to pause overnight camping permits in 2015. These blooms are a top cause of poor water quality affecting fish and birds on a wide scale and pose serious threats to livestock, pets, and humans.

A lot of the changes can’t be seen by the eye, says Sharma. “You can’t tell that the water temperatures are warmer. You can’t tell that fish populations are stressed as you’re walking along the shoreline,” she says. “Things are bad when you can start observing water quality degradation by eye.”

Look for murky or green water and algal scum. Or, take a whiff. Degraded water quality definitely has a smell.

Water access for all

“There’s a huge inequity issue,” Sharma says. “There are boiling water advisories on Indigenous reserves, right next to other towns that don’t [have advisories]…it’s just going to get worse with climate change as water quality is expected to degrade further.”

There is a ton of work happening in Africa, Asia, and South America that Canada can look to when it comes to the future of our lakes. “We need to start bridging those gaps. We need to recognize how their lakes are changing,” Sharma says, calling the science community to approach freshwater research more inclusively.

“Our field, and accessibility to water, will only improve,” she says.

Categories
Cottage Life

Good enough to eat? This state is hoping to revamp Asian carp’s image

Photo by Mironov Vladimir/Shutterstock

Asian carp are getting a new name—but only in the state of Illinois. Last month, Illinois’ Department of Natural Resources announced that it was changing the name Asian carp to copi (a play on copious for their abundant numbers).

The rebrand is an attempt to dismiss long-held misconceptions about Asian carp and to reintroduce the fish as a delicious meal option. “It’s a tasty fish that’s easy to work with in the kitchen and it plates beautifully. Every time we’ve offered samples during the Illinois State Fair, people have walked away floored by how delicious it is,” said Illinois Department of Natural Resources director Colleen Callahan, in a statement.

Asian carp are often mixed up with common carp, a bottom feeder with a mucky taste. Asian carp are top-feeder, white fish that are high in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, rich with protein, and low in mercury.

large common carp being held by angler
The common carp is often confused with the family of Asian carp. They are bottom feeders and unlike silver carp have barbels. Photo by malgosia janicka/Shutterstock

“Copi is more savoury than tilapia, cleaner tasting than catfish, and firmer than cod,” said chef Brian Jupiter of Chicago’s Ina Mae Tavern, in a statement. “It’s the perfect canvas for creativity—pan-fried, steamed, broiled, baked, roasted, or grilled. Copi can be ground for burgers, fish cakes, dumplings, and tacos.”

Since the name change, 21 Illinois chefs and retailers have committed to adding Asian carp to their menus. Copi has yet to be made official, but Illinois plans to apply to formally change the name with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year.

By revamping Asian carp as a consumer-friendly option, Illinois is hoping to reduce the species’ population within the state. Asian carp are an invasive species brought to North America from Asia in the 1960s and 70s. The fish have taken over U.S. waterways, decimating native species. Asian carp have replaced all native species in certain sections of the Mississippi River and make up more than 50 per cent of the fish, by weight, in sections of the Illinois River.

Asian carp is actually a catchall term for four types of fish: the silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp, and black carp. These four species reproduce rapidly, eat up to 20 per cent of their body weight in plankton each day, and can weigh up to 40 kilograms, reaching a metre in length.

Bighead carp on a dock

Photo courtesy Asian Carp Canada

Bighead carp

Black carp on white background

Photo courtesy of Asian Carp Canada

Black carp

Grass carp

Photo by Edvard Ellric/Shutterstock

Grass carp

Silver carp on white background

Photo by photomaster/Shutterstock

Silver carp

They have yet to become established in Ontario waters thanks to both the U.S. and Canadian governments implementing programs to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes. If they were to become established in the Great Lakes, the carp would pose a threat to the $7 billion-a-year commercial fishing industry and $16 billion-a-year tourism industry.

But not everyone is supportive of the Illinois name change. In an email, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) said that while increasing the fishes’ popularity could contribute to reducing the population, there is concern that creating a viable and desirable market for an invasive species will encourage individuals to introduce this species elsewhere. “Something we obviously do not want to happen.”

OFAH said it couldn’t speculate on whether the Ontario government would ever change the Asian carp name to copi, but, “if a name change [did] occur in Ontario and Canada…it would be guided by science as well as a desire to prevent any possible introduction of these species into our waters.”

Under Canada’s Federal Fisheries Act and Ontario’s Invasive Species Act, live possession of Asian carps is prohibited, unless dead and gutted.

Categories
Cottage Life

The battle against invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes rages on

Photo by T. Lawrence/Great Lakes Fishery Commission

For the past two years, COVID-19 impeded conservation operations in the Great Lakes. Now, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is ramping up efforts to contain invasive sea lampreys that threaten the wellness of the ecosystem.

Sea lamprey management is a fickle but important part of Great Lakes conservation. Since the 1950s, Canada and the U. S. have been working in tandem to keep the invasive species in check and preserve the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry. However, in 2020 and 2021, pandemic restrictions prevented conservation workers from undertaking their usual ecosystem management efforts in the Great Lakes.

In the past, when control was eased, lamprey populations grew relatively quickly. However, Marc Gaden of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which is in charge of sea lamprey management, says the organization is hopeful that renewed containment efforts will keep the population in check this time around. “We’re cautiously optimistic that we can weather this,” says Gaden.

What’s happening right now?

The pandemic limited the Commission’s capacity to work in the field and manage lamprey populations. The Fishery Commission’s lamprey management operations were only able to run at roughly 25 per cent capacity in 2020, and 75 per cent in 2021. “COVID set us back a bit, the past two seasons have been highly curtailed because the crews couldn’t get out there,” Gaden explains.

The lampreys that are spawning now, are survivors from the 2020 season. This means the Commission won’t know until the fall, once they’ve fully analyzed all the available data, how significantly the population has changed.

Still, Gaden is cautiously optimistic about the situation. The Commission had been aggressively controlling the sea lamprey population in the decade leading up to COVID-19, which happened to set them up well for the pandemic, says Gaden. “We went into COVID as well-positioned as you can be for a disruption of that size.”

Both the Canadian and American governments have provided the Great Lakes Fishery Commission with additional resources, allowing them to step up the battle against the sea lampreys, says Gaden. Now, the Commission is working at maximum capacity to apply the lampricide treatments. “We’re well-positioned from a resource position to really take this battle to the lamprey and to continue to suppress the populations to the target level we’ve set.”

What are sea lampreys?

Sea lampreys have been a thorn in the side of Great Lakes conservationists for a century. They’re ancient blood-sucking creatures with eel-like bodies and rows of concentric teeth. While the creatures are healthy contributors to their natural environment off the Atlantic coast, they’re devastating to the fish of the Great Lakes. 

“From a scientific point of view, even though sea lamprey are a huge pest in the Great Lakes, lampreys as a whole are evolutionarily pretty fascinating,” says Margaret Docker, a professor at the University of Manitoba who studies lamprey biology and freshwater fish conservation. Sea lampreys began to evolve half a billion years ago. The ancient sea creatures are often mistakenly referred to as eels thanks to their long and skinny bodies, but they’re actually considered jawless fish. “Almost all the lineages of jawless fish went extinct, and lampreys are one of the few survivors from that time, 400 million years ago,” says Docker.

Parasitic sea lampreys use their jawless but teeth-lined mouths to suction onto a host fish. Then, they use their tongue—which also has its own set of teeth—to chisel away at the flesh of their prey to suck up its blood. For those who are now scared to dip their toes into the Great Lakes, have no fear, sea lampreys only go after cold-blooded prey.

Docker says the larger fish of the Atlantic are able to handle the sea lamprey’s bite, which makes them little more than a nuisance (like a very large mosquito) in their native habitat. But for the smaller freshwater fish of the Great Lakes, the sea lamprey’s bite is often fatal.

Sea lamprey attached to a salmon
Photo by M. Gaden/Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Why are sea lamprey harmful to the Great Lakes?

The vampire-like fish was first seen in Lake Ontario in the mid-1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that sea lampreys were documented in all five lakes. Gaden says sea lampreys entered the Great Lakes through man-made canals, and the Great Lakes happened to serve as the perfect habitat for the invasive creatures. It provided them with optimal spawning grounds, a plethora of tasty fish, and most importantly, a lack of natural predators. “That’s kind of the best recipe you could possibly have if you’re an invasive species,” says Gaden. “Those are the best conditions for an invasion.”

Gaden says prior to the late 1950s, sea lampreys inflicted enormous damage to the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. Individual sea lampreys are capable of killing 20 kilograms of fish and each female can lay 100,000 eggs. After their invasion, sea lampreys quickly decimated the fish populations of the Great Lakes. “They put some commercial fishers out of business,” says Gaden. “In some cases, they were eating more fish than humans were catching.”

In 1954, Canada and the U.S. joined forces to create the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which they tasked with managing the Great Lakes ecosystem and containing sea lamprey populations. Gaden says the creation of this bi-national organization is a testament to how destructive the sea lamprey is. While the commission has had success and setbacks over the past half a century, today, lamprey numbers are only at a small fraction of what they were prior to control efforts, he says. 

The secret weapon in the fight against lampreys? Lampricide. Lampricide is a pesticide discovered by the Commission that kills lampreys while leaving other wildlife in the Great Lakes unharmed. “It’s a wild success story in terms of taking a species that essentially posed an existential threat to the Great Lakes, and bringing it under control using mechanisms that are safe for the environment and harmful to lampreys,” Gaden says.

It’s crucial that conservation efforts continue to ensure sea lampreys don’t expand beyond the Great Lakes, says Docker. 

Categories
Cottage Life

Cruise ships return to the Great Lakes after hiatus

Photo Courtesy of Vantage Deluxe World Travel/Facebook

Cruise ships are returning to the Great Lakes after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. On April 29, the Port of Toronto Cruise Ship Terminal welcomed its first cruise ship in over two years, the Viking Octantis.

PortsToronto, which operates the terminal, said that 2022 will be one of its biggest years yet with 40 cruise ships scheduled to call at the port. According to a 2018 study, cruise activity in Ontario generates approximately $6 million in revenue annually for businesses catering to the vessels, passengers, and crew, such as restaurants, attractions, and shopping centres.

“The return of cruise ship passengers to the Great Lakes will bring renewal and revitalization to our local tourism and travel sectors, hard-hit over the past two years. We are thrilled to welcome them back,” said Geoffrey Wilson, CEO of PortsToronto, in a statement. “Between May and October, the Port of Toronto Cruise Ship Terminal will connect thousands of foodies, sightseers, and enthusiasts of all kinds to Toronto to discover what we know to be one of the greatest cities in the world.”

Not only will the return of cruise ships bring tourists to Toronto, but it’ll also allow Ontarians to visit other locations around the Great Lakes. In fact, this year, Vantage Tours is offering a 14-day cruise on its ship Ocean Explorer that takes passengers through four of the five Great Lakes, travelling from Toronto to Chicago.

The Ocean Explorer, which was launched in 2021, measures 104 metres long and features 77 cabins, holding a maximum of 162 passengers. Along its Toronto-to-Chicago route, the ship makes 21 stops, exploring some of North America’s largest lakeside cities, regional cuisine, and Indigenous history.

After leaving Toronto, the first stop on the ship’s itinerary is Port Colborne where passengers tour around Niagara Falls, and stop for lunch and wine tasting at a local winery. From there, the ship passes onto Lake Erie, stopping in Cleveland for a city tour that includes the Cleveland Museum of Art, the West Side Market, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The next day, the ship docks in Detroit where passengers receive a guided tour of the Ford Rouge Factory, the automaker’s largest single industrial complex. From there, the boat goes to Lake Huron, heading north to Manitoulin Island in Georgian Bay, the largest freshwater island in the world. Here, passengers learn about Ojibwe culture, participating in a traditional smudging ceremony and powwow at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation.

The cruise then continues on to Sault Ste. Marie before backtracking to Mackinac Island, a Revolutionary-era heritage site near the entrance to Lake Michigan that’s been car-free since 1901.

Finally, the ship reaches Chicago, taking passengers on an architectural tour of the city along the Chicago River.

Throughout the cruise, passengers can enjoy curated talks about the areas visited by a resident lecturer, as well as a long list of amenities, such as a spa, infinity pool, fitness centre, and an on-board restaurant.

As you’d expect, the cruise comes with a hefty price tag. Costs differ by cabin, but the starting price is $8,699, working out to $621 per day. The 2022 cruises are sold out, but if you’re looking for a way to explore the Great Lakes in 2023, cabins are still available.

Featured Video

Categories
Cottage Life

What we’ve learned from clean-up success on the Great Lakes

Photo by Sanbao/Shutterstock

The Great Lakes cover nearly 95,000 square miles (250,000 square kilometers) and hold over 20% of Earth’s surface fresh water. More than 30 million people in the U.S. and Canada rely on them for drinking water. The lakes support a multibillion-dollar maritime economy, and the lands around them provided many of the raw materials—timber, coal, iron —that fueled the Midwest’s emergence as an industrial heartland.

Despite their enormous importance, the lakes were degraded for well over a century as industry and development expanded around them. By the 1960s, rivers like the Cuyahoga, Buffalo, and Chicago were so polluted that they were catching fire. In 1965, Maclean’s magazine called Lake Erie, the smallest and shallowest Great Lake, “an odorous, slime-covered graveyard” that “may have already passed the point of no return.” Lake Ontario wasn’t far behind.

In 1972, the U.S. and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a landmark pact to clean up the Great Lakes. Now, 50 years later, they have made progress, but there are new challenges and much unfinished business.

I study the environment and have written four books on U.S.-Canadian management of their shared border waters. In my view, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was a watershed moment for environmental protection and an international model for regulating transboundary pollution. But I believe the people of the U.S. and Canada failed the Great Lakes by becoming complacent too soon after the pact’s early success.

Map of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin
The Great Lakes-St Lawrence River Basin spans nearly half of North America, from northern Minnesota to New England.
International Joint Commission

Starting with phosphates

A major step in Canada-U.S. joint management of the Great Lakes came in 1909 when they signed the Boundary Waters Treaty. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement built on this foundation by creating a framework to allow the two countries to cooperatively restore and protect these border waters.

However, as an executive agreement, rather than a formal government-to-government treaty, the pact has no legal mechanisms for enforcement. Instead, it relies on the U.S. and Canada to fulfill their commitments. The International Joint Commission, an agency created under the Boundary Waters Treaty, carries out the agreement and tracks progress toward its goals.

The agreement set common targets for controlling a variety of pollutants in Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the upper St. Lawrence River, which were the most polluted section of the Great Lakes system. One key aim was to reduce nutrient pollution, especially phosphates from detergents and sewage. These chemicals fueled huge blooms of algae that then died and decomposed, depleting oxygen in the water.

Like national water pollution laws enacted at the time, these efforts focused on point sources—pollutants released from discreet, readily identifiable points, such as discharge pipes or wells.

Diagram of the Great Lakes and connecting water bodies in profile.
This profile view of the Great Lakes shows that Lake Erie is much shallower than the other lakes. As a result, its waters warm faster and are more vulnerable to algal blooms.
NOAA, CC BY-ND

Early results were encouraging. Both governments invested in new sewage treatment facilities and convinced manufacturers to reduce phosphate loads in detergents and soaps. But as phosphorus levels in the lakes declined, scientists soon detected other problems.

Which Great Lake are you?

Toxic contaminants

In 1973, scientists reported a perplexing find in fish from Lake Ontario: mirex, a highly toxic organochloride pesticide used mainly to kill ants in the southeast U.S. An investigation revealed that the Hooker Chemical company was discharging mirex from its plant in Niagara Falls, New York. The contamination was so severe that New York State banned eating popular types of fish such as coho salmon and lake trout from Lake Ontario from 1976 to 1978, shutting down commercial and sport fishing in the lake.

In response to this and other findings, the U.S. and Canada updated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1978 to cover all five lakes and focus on chemicals and toxic substances. This version formally adopted an ecosystem approach to pollution control that considered interactions between water, air and land—perhaps the first international agreement to do so.

A tour of the Great Lakes and the nature in and around them.

In 1987, the two countries identified the most toxic hot spots around the lakes and adopted action plans to clean them up. However, as scholars of North American environmental regulations acknowledge, both nations too often allowed industries to police themselves.

Since the 1990s, studies have identified toxic pollutants including PCBs, DDT, and chlordane in and around the Great Lakes, as well as lead, copper, arsenic, and others. Some of these chemicals continued to show up because they were persistent and took a long time to break down. Others were banned but leached from contaminated sites and sediments. Still others came from a range of point and nonpoint sources, including many industrial sites concentrated on shorelines.

Many hazardous sites have been slowly cleaned up. However, toxic pollution in the Great Lakes remains a colossal problem that is largely unappreciated by the public, since these substances don’t always make the water look or smell foul. Numerous fish advisories are still in effect across the region because of chemical contamination. Industries constantly bring new chemicals to market, and regulations lag far behind.

Nonpoint sources

Another major challenge is nonpoint source pollution—discharges that come from many diffuse sources, such as runoff from farm fields.

Nitrogen levels in the lakes have risen significantly because of agriculture. Like phosphorus, nitrogen is a nutrient that causes large blooms of algae in fresh water; it is one of the main ingredients in fertilizer, and is also found in human and animal waste. Sewage overflows from cities and waste and manure runoff from industrial agriculture carry heavy loads of nitrogen into the lakes.

As a result, algal blooms have returned to Lake Erie. In 2014, toxins in one of those blooms forced officials in Toledo, Ohio, to shut off the public water supply for half a million people.

One way to address nonpoint source pollution is to set an overall limit for releases of the problem pollutant into local water bodies and then work to bring discharges down to that level. These measures, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads, have been applied or are in development for parts of the Great Lakes basin, including western Lake Erie.

But this strategy relies on states, along with voluntary steps by farmers, to curb pollution releases. Some Midwesterners would prefer a regional approach like the strategy for Chesapeake Bay, where states asked the U.S. government to write a sweeping federal TMDL for key pollutants for the bay’s entire watershed.

In 2019, Toledo voters adopted a Lake Erie Bill of Rights that would have permitted citizens to sue when Lake Erie was being polluted. Farmers challenged the measure in court, and it was declared unconstitutional.

Warming and flooding

Climate change is now complicating Great Lakes cleanup efforts. Warmer water can affect oxygen concentrations, nutrient cycling and food webs in the lakes, potentially intensifying problems and converting nuisances into major challenges.

How will the Great Lakes region be affected by climate change?

Flooding driven by climate change threatens to contaminate public water supplies around the lakes. Record-high water levels are eroding shorelines and wrecking infrastructure. And new problems are emerging, including microplastic pollution and “forever chemicals” such as PFAS and PFOA.

It will be challenging for the U.S. and Canada to make progress on this complex set of problems. Key steps include prioritizing and funding cleanup of toxic zones, finding ways to halt agricultural runoff and building new sewer and stormwater infrastructure. If the two countries can muster the will to aggressively tackle pollution problems, as they did with phosphates in the 1970s, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement gives them a framework for action.The Conversation

Daniel Macfarlane is an associate professor of Environment and Sustainability, Western Michigan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

10 breathtaking beach towns on the Great Lakes

Categories
Cottage Life

The definitive ranking of the Great Lakes (according to Donovan Woods)

Photo by Bree Fisher / Photo collage by Taylor Kristan

Every April, Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods releases a ranking of the Great Lakes on Twitter, as he has for the last several years.

Needless to say, when the rankings are released, people have thoughts. Cottagers and non-cottagers alike stumble over actually-no-you’re-wrongs faster than their fingers can fly across the keyboard. It could be because there isn’t much movement on the ranking from year to year (Lake Erie lovers, you’re in for a tough go), or that personal bias is so strong. I mean, who is this guy to rank the Great Lakes anyway?

 

Perhaps what adds to the mystique of this controversial list is that once it’s posted, Donovan is mum on the subject. You won’t find him defending his choices against replies desperately seeking explanation or fielding polite questions about his process. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his reasons or that he hasn’t thoroughly thought his decision through. And while he won’t reply on Twitter, he would talk to us. We sat down with Donovan to find out why he ranks the lakes as he does and, more importantly, what does he have against Lake Erie?

**

Alysha Vandertogt (AV): So, tell me—how did you start doing this? What inspired you to start ranking the Great Lakes?

Donovan Woods (DW): Well, my parents’ front yard is on Lake Huron, I’m from Sarnia, Ont. I’m partial to all the lakes, but I did grow up on Lake Huron. I try to keep my own personal bias out of my ranking, although I do think Lake Huron is the best by a long shot. But I’ve just always loved the lakes, I love ’em! My friends and I have always loved them.

We like to argue about the rankings of things. You know, what are the top five dinosaurs or the most classic farm animals. They really are quite interesting arguments. The number one farm animal is obviously cow. But then there are people who want duck in there, people who want sheep in there. There’s really not a lot of room for that, all of these things can become contentious.

AV: I was going to ask you about whether or not your upbringing and Sarnia might have influenced the rankings.

DW: Listen, I’ve swam in all of the Great Lakes. I don’t have any real training in the field, but I feel like I’m as good as anybody to judge them.

I’ll tell you, the first time I posted a ranking, I was so surprised by how contentious it was. People were very, very angry.

AV: I was looking back at tweets from years previous, and you even had a tweet in there about how you didn’t expect to have to block people as a result of ranking the Great Lakes.

DW: Yeah, exactly!

AV: How did you feel when people got so fired up? People were in your replies, they’re quote tweeting you. People are taking this really seriously.

DW: To me, that’s the funniest part. You can become an authority on something just by saying you are. My favourite part is when the tweet reaches a certain level of popularity—and it has all three years—somebody eventually goes, ‘Who is this person, never heard of him.’ And when you start getting those tweets, that’s when you know it’s going good, things are heating up.

Everybody says, ‘How could Superior not be number one with the name,’ but I would hazard a guess that the name Superior has something more to do with how it’s the highest and the furthest west. But I try not to get into the weeds with people on that. Anybody who has been to Lake Superior knows it’s beautiful, of course, but it’s not very useful. It’s really cold all the time.

People’s opinions are interesting, but, at times, sad. It’s sad that people would think that Lake Erie deserves to be number one. Anybody who knows anything knows it’s not true.

Ontario has an argument, to a certain degree. If you’ve ever been to the Sandbanks beaches, it’s beautiful around there. And a lot of Canadians have a bias against Lake Michigan because it has an American-centric name, but Lake Michigan is just gorgeous. Very Lake Huron-like. Some people want to make the argument that they’re the same body of water technically, I don’t go in for that.

AV: I think when people think Lake Ontario they think of what Lake Ontario is right around Toronto or Hamilton.

DW: Justifiably. But that’s not fair to the lake, there’s a whole top area that’s much better than those areas.

I try not to argue too much. People have their passionate beliefs, but they are wrong. By and large, my ranking is correct. I would die on the hill for it.

AV: You’ve mentioned before that you don’t really like to explain why you’ve put certain lakes over others. Is there a particular reason for that, or you don’t necessarily want to get into it with people, given the amount of people that reply to the tweet.

DW: I don’t think it’s very constructive. I don’t feel any need to defend it because it’s just one person’s opinion. All year long, I’m thinking about the Great Lakes, their movement, what’s going on. Maybe something will happen eventually that would change the ranking, but I don’t know what it is. I just put the list up and that’s it, that’s my duty done.

AV: Earlier you talked about swimming conditions. What is it that you take into account that makes the ranking the way that it is?

DW: This is tricky. This is stuff that I don’t love to get into, but I do think it’s a general sense of the usefulness of the lake. Beauty is a really important part of the equation. In general, it’s an ineffable quality that is in the zeitgeist. This year, for example, Lake Michigan featured heavily in the show Station 11, where it has a sort of mythic quality. That almost put it into a more prominent position, but in the end it didn’t feel right. It still felt like it had to be Huron, Superior, Michigan.

AV: One of your tweets from a previous year said that Lake Erie was last, by a lot. Not that I’m a Lake Erie apologist, but what is it about Lake Erie that has it so firmly in last place?

DW: I’m not particularly fond of any of the cities on Lake Erie, I have found the swimming to be lacklustre, I’m not fond of that part of Ontario.

AV: Have your feelings about a particular lake changed since since you started doing the rankings?

DW: It’s possible that a decade ago, I would have felt the same way as people that think Lake Michigan should be lower. Michigan really came up for me in my 20s when I spent a lot of time there. I’m a lot more fond of Lake Ontario even now than three years ago when I first did the first ranking. But they’re all great—fourth out of five is still pretty good. It’s really going to be something if the ranking ever moves, I wonder if it will.

AV: Is there anything that could push one ahead of the other? I see that there was like a Lake Superior account that was tweeting at you about the ranking and saying that it wanted to make some moves.

DW: People say to me, ‘Oh, how could you ignore the Lake Superior tweet?’ That sounds like a person pretending to be a lake. I’m a grown man, using his own name, ranking the Great Lakes. A guy pretending to be a lake, does that sound like an authority to you? Nonsense.

AV: How do you feel about people who are trying to throw in completely off-the-board picks to be included in the ranking? They seem to take the “great” name very liberally. 

DW: There’s always someone who wants to tell you that Great Slave Lake or Great Bear Lake exists, we all know that. That’s not what we’re talking about though.

AV: It’s pretty definitive. People kind of have to accept that these ones are the Great Lakes, because they’re called that. As a society, we’ve acknowledged that these ones are the Great Lakes.

DW: I was writing a song the other day with a guy from the U.K., and I was telling him about the ranking. And I said, ‘You know of the Great Lakes, right?’ And he said, ‘Of course.’ This is a guy who grew up on the Isle of Wight in the U.K., and he knew immediately. So, these are important lakes, right? He’s never heard of Great Slave Lake, let’s put it that way.

**

Well, Lake Erie, better luck next year.

Categories
Cottage Life

How will the Great Lakes region be affected by climate change?

Photo by Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock

The Great Lakes are getting warmer, wetter, and wilder. These atypical conditions are amplifying other threats. Harmful algal blooms are increasing in severity and geographic extent, sewers are overflowing and stormwater is flooding neighbourhoods and parks. Many terrestrial organisms are shifting northwards and worsening air quality is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable people living in cities.

The Great Lakes hold one-fifth the standing freshwater on the Earth’s surface and more than 34 million people live in the basin, supporting an economy worth US$5 trillion—if it were a country, it would be one of the largest economies in the world. And yet shoreline communities are faltering under the weight of billions of dollars in damages—and are worried that climate change will continue to make things even worse.

Like the Arctic’s thawing permafrost, the Great Lakes basin is a key sentinel of climate change. Climate change has already immensely affected the region and its impacts will continue to expand as the pace of climate change accelerates, bringing new socio-economic and environmental challenges.

With the UN climate conference in Glasgow (COP26) underway, world leaders are discussing what must be done to address the climate crisis and making pledges to take specific actions. Adaptation features heavily in the COP26 agenda, including the Glasgow Adaptation Imperative to assess action taken and action needed to meet the Paris Agreement goal on adaptation and promote a more climate resilient future for all, particularly the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

Climate change impacts

In the Great Lakes, climate change is considered a threat multiplier, meaning it exacerbates other threats to the ecosystem.

All the Great Lakes are warming, but Lake Superior stands out. Still the coldest lake, its summer surface water temperatures increased 2.5 C between 1979 and 2006, even faster than air temperatures. Even the deep waters of Lake Michigan are warming at a rate of 0.5 C per decade.

The Great Lakes have lost more than 70 per cent of their total winter ice cover over the past 50 years. That means more open water during winter, thinner ice and less of the ice fishing that is so popular with basin denizens. Less ice cover will, however, lengthen the commercial shipping season.

Ice fishing is popular among those living near the Great Lakes. But as air temperatures rise in the winter, the ice is thinner and is in place for a shorter time. (Photo by Marianne Danielsen/Shutterstock)

Overall, warming of the lakes will alter the seasonal patterns of warm and cold water layers and the dynamics of the lakes’ food webs, and it will lead to greater shoreline damage from strong winter storms.

In some areas within the Great Lakes basin, water levels have risen by two metres, eroding shorelines, washing away houses, destroying roads, threatening infrastructure such as water treatment plants and disrupting age-old traditions of Indigenous Peoples.

Climate change is one of the leading threats to birds in the Great Lakes and North America. The 2019 Audubon Report “Survival by Degrees” found that 64 per cent of bird species (389 of 604) across breeding and non-breeding seasons were moderately or highly vulnerable to climate change. As indicator species, birds are telling us the time to act is now.

In addition, climate change will likely alter the range and distribution of certain fish species, increase the frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms, exacerbate wetland loss, create new threats from invasive species, diminish beach health and, in some cases, displace or extirpate native species.

Urban impacts of climate change

The effects of climate change are heightened in urban areas and impose a high financial burden to municipalities. Detroit is a good example.

Detroit is an old city with combined storm and sanitary sewers that overflow stormwater and raw sewage during heavy rainfall events. It also has plenty of impervious surfaces that promote runoff.

Extreme rainfall events have flooded highways, streets and neighbourhoods. High water levels have frequently flooded Detroit’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighbourhood. In response, the city spent US$2 million in 2020 on “tiger dams,” large, temporary, water-filled berms, to keep the water from flooding houses.

On the 398-hectare Belle Isle State Park, high water levels closed roads, flooded picnic areas and postponed 60 weddings at the popular Boat House, a more than 100-year-old rowing facility, in 2019. They have also delayed a US$5-million habitat restoration project on Blue Heron Lagoon and forced the redesign of the one-hectare, US$4.2-million Oudolf Garden, designed by Piet Oudolf, an internationally renowned Dutch garden designer.

Detroit is also projected to experience a significant increase in the number of very hot days by the end of the century, reaching as many as 65 days above 32.2 C. The burden of heat and poor air quality accompanying the climate threat will disproportionately affect the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Adapting to climate change

Many municipalities, provinces and states around the Great Lakes have been developing adaptation plans to address local impacts of climate change at a high cost. This decentralized approach comes with its own problems, like unintended cross-border effects of local adaptation or duplication of efforts. The United Nations has shown that flood risk reduction strategies in one part of a basin may increase flood risks in another portion of the basin that is located in another country.

A small home along Lake Michigan’s shoreline toppled down a bluff in January 2020.

An integrated, basin-wide ecosystem approach could allow for cost-sharing of scientific studies and co-ordinated policy action at national and sub-national levels, leading to better adaptation. Because the Great Lakes are a shared resource among many governments, including those of Canada, the United States, eight states, two provinces and tribes, First Nations and the Métis Nation, transboundary co-operation is needed.

In 2017, the Great Lakes Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission, an independent adviser to Canada and the United States, recommended that both countries negotiate and develop a co-ordinated strategy for climate change adaptation and ecological resilience. These recommendations reflect strong public opinion, yet almost five years later no comprehensive binational climate change strategy has been put into place.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for strengthened measures to anticipate and prevent ecological harm, by following the precautionary principle—when human activities may lead to unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish that harm.

There is enough scientific evidence that climate change poses a threat to the entire Great Lakes region—and the 38 million people who live there. As is being discussed and pledged at COP26, all must work together to limit global warming to 1.5 C, including the Great Lakes region, and all must immediately advance climate adaptation and resilience.

 

John Hartig, Visiting Scholar, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor; Patrícia Galvão Ferreira, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, and Robert Michael McKay, Executive Director and Professor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor

This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world. More. The ConversationThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read more:

Cottage Life TV series explores link between climate change and weather catastrophes

How to make sure your gutters are ready for climate change