In reviewing the detailed GLMRIS Report announced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on January 6, 2014 to deal with the spread of aquatic nuisance specie into Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes Boating Federation(GLBF) said that it is very thorough, but fails to adequately address the concerns of two MAJOR users of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, that is, recreational boaters and sportfishermen. While acknowledging that recreational and commercial navigation are significant users of the Chicago Area Waterway System and that steps will need to be be taken to mitigate the NEGATIVE effects each of the eight proposed alternatives has on these users, the report doesn’t specify what actions would be undertaken and fails to recognize the significant economic impact recreational boating and sportfishing has on the areas in question !Within a 50 miles radius of downtown Chicago, there are approximately 25,000 water-borne boaters, ranging from Racine and Kenosha in Wisconsin to Indiana and Michigan. In Chicago alone, there are nearly 6,000 slips in the city harbors on Lake Michigan, and it is estimated these boaters have an economic impact of between $70 to $90 million a year on the city’s economy—no small number.
Because of their significant economic impact on the waterways in question, recreational boaters and sportfishermen need to have their concerns addressed in greater detail. For example, if any of the hydrologic separation alternatives identified in Plans 5 and 6 were implemented, they would have SIGNIFICANT negative impacts on recreational boaters! GLBF Chairman F. Ned Dikmen said, “The hydrologic separation of Lake Michigan from CAWS could very well mean the end of the marinas, boatyards, and boat dealerships on the
Illinois and Des Plaines rivers. And with the exception of some marine businesses on the Chicago River, they could ALL potentially see their operations cease to exist.”
Although the nearly 25,000 boaters who boat and fish on the waterways in question can certainly understand the need to prevent the spread of the 13 aquatic nuisance species into the Great Lakes, they also need to know how these plans would impact recreational boating and what specific efforts would be undertaken to mitigate these effects. This leads to three questions.
Question one: With the exception of leaving the electric barriers in place option, would any of the other alternatives allow recreational boaters to freely navigate these waterways as they have for the last century?
Question two: Could someone clearly explain how the current electric barriers system is performing in keeping aquatic nuisance species out of the Great Lakes, and whether this report is just another political game being played out by various Great Lakes states against Illinois?
Question three: Aquatic nuisances have been known to hitchhike on boats going from one body of water to another. What will be expected of boaters in cleansing their boats and stopping the spread of aquatic nuisance species?
For more information, contact Jerome Koncel, Policy Advisor, at 312-266-8408.
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