Duluth News Tribune:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/117235/
Published April 09 2009
Public’s help needed to slow spread of VHS
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has been in the Great Lakes since at least 2003. The disease has moved swiftly from east to west, leaving a wake of dead fish behind.
By: News Tribune, Duluth News Tribune
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has been in the Great Lakes since at least 2003. The disease has moved swiftly from east to west, leaving a wake of dead fish behind. While it’s not clear where the disease came from, scientists suspect it came to the Great Lakes in the ballast of an oceangoing ship. Since then it may have been spread by others ships, anglers and recreational boaters.
Invasive species experts say it remains critical for boaters and anglers to continue their vigilance to not spread water, bait or fish from waters that are infected or possibly infected. That means moving no water, bait or fish from one lake or river to another and disinfecting boats that are trailered between lakes. That same kind of effort has helped slow the spread of other invasives such as zebra mussels and Eurasian water milfoil.
VHS has killed 37 species of fish in the Great Lakes and nearby inland lakes. It has been confirmed in Chinook salmon, yellow perch, round gobies and brown trout in Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan. It has not yet been confirmed in Lake Superior.
For more information go to dnr.wi.gov/fish/vhs or www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_diseases/vhs.html.
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Duluth News Tribune:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/116932/
Published April 05 2009
Shipping season gets off to rocky start
The Twin Ports' shipping season kicked off this week, but it wasn't the best start.
By: Jana Peterson, Budgeteer News
It wasn’t the best start to a shipping season.
The Alpena laker kicked off the 2009 Great Lakes navigation season, arriving early Monday afternoon after traveling from Alpena, Mich., through the Soo Locks to get here.
A little later the same day, the James R. Barker left Duluth for Presque Isle. So far, so good. Then came Tuesday, with its snow and wind, leading to difficulties on Wednesday, when two lakers, the Lee A. Tregurtha and the Alpena, got stuck in the ice just outside the harbor.
It took five hours (from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) for the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alder to punch through the mass of ice chunks driven into the shore by strong east winds during Tuesday’s storm.
The Tregurtha followed less than an hour later, and the Alpena was the last out, another 30 to 40 minutes after that.
So far, no firm arrival dates are known for the Port’s first oceangoing vessel this year.
According to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway officially began its 2009 navigation season at 8 a.m. March 31 with the opening of the Welland Canal and Montreal-Lake Ontario sections of the Seaway (11 days behind last year’s earliest record-tying start).
The Port of Duluth-Superior typically sees its first “saltie” in early to mid-April. The captain of the first “saltie” will be greeted by local maritime officials with a welcoming ceremony, where the winner of an annual “First Ship Contest” — sponsored by the Port Authority, Visit Duluth and 92KQRS Minneapolis — will be announced. The winner has to make the best prediction of when the first ocean-going vessel of the 2009 shipping season will pass under the Aerial Lift Bridge into Duluth — entries were due by March 31.
The official time will be the actual second the hull of the ocean-going vessel goes under the Aerial Lift Bridge, as timed by the Aerial Lift Bridge officials.
On the business side of things
When asked to predict the outlook for maritime commerce in 2009, Adolph Ojard, Duluth Seaway Port Authority executive director, had this to say in a January press release: “We’re in unchartered territory; it’s difficult to know where inventories and freight rates will be in the year ahead, what sectors of the economy will recover fastest, where grain markets will be globally, or how many vessels will be in operation to start the season. But we are definitely hoping for a recovery by the third quarter of 2009.”
A total of 1,126 vessels called on the Duluth-Superior port in the 2008 shipping season – just 69 oceangoing ships, which was less than half of the salty traffic of the previous year.
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Distributed without profit to ESA Great Lakes District members who have expressed an interest in receiving aquatic invasive species information for research and educational purposes.
