Quest Outdoors

hogmaster

I know that sewer overflows seem to happen more and more often than ever. I hear it on the local news in chesaning and flint, flushing. Often they are slapped with a little fine, but why are they not making the fine large enough to stop the occurance? Do they depend on the money?

My main question though is does anyone think the raw sewage in the lake hurts the more delicate speicies of fish like salmon and steelhead?

Also hears a quote from an article and the web site address.

""The Bay City plant has reported a number of combined sewer overflows this year, of stormwater mixed with sewage. The most recent overflow, of almost 20 million gallons, was reported earlier this month after 2.4 inches of rain fell during a six-hour period. On Monday, the Saginaw wastewater plant reported an overflow of 2.15 million gallons of combined sewage, which occurred Aug. 24. ""

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1188314150271910.xml&coll=4&thispage=2

gomer · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:44 pm Post subject:

doubtful

axisgear · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:04 pm Post subject:

No food=no fish! Lake Huron is in the middle of a crisis that it will recover from.It will take some time,though. You can thank the zebra and quagga mussels for a lot of it.

Treven · Lunker Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 376

Yep, I have been of the understanding from the get go that the problem is actually the answer for the origional problem from when the Salmon were introduced, to control the alewife population. Seems as though it worked Rolling Eyes

axisgear · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject:

I have a rather dumb question.....When was the last time any of you guys[and gals] has seen one of the mass die-offs of alewives we used to see all the time during the 70's and 80's? Remember when a BIG salmon was over 40 pounds?

hogmaster · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:27 am Post subject: I remember 30

I remember mid 30 pounders in the late 90's, but there wasn't much die off then.

I posted this question because the same water on the other side (canada) does not have the same problem. Could the reason for the bait die off be because the pollution that lacks on the Canada side?
The bait really started to decline in 2002 on the east side and they have not planted many salmon in the last couple of years. If it was the salmon doing the job they were planted for then why haven't we seen improvements since we reduced plants?
The bait didn't decline year after year and we slowly lost the fishery either it was like two years from huge fish and lots of bait to 15 guys at the AuSable fishing one bed for 2 fish.
I just can't beleive that we allow the dumping to go on, and that anyone expects me to beleive that the chemicals and raw sewage isn't going to hurt bait which starves the salmon. Does anyone know of any scientific evidence done on the matter?

I miss going down to the AuSable and going home with a sore arm.

ripdmup · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:33 am Post subject:

Canada is one of the worst offenders of pollution.
No offense to any Canadians. But facts are facts.

Ron matthews · Lunker Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 236 Location: mich.

I Think there's a couple factors that had a huge impact, Several that had large impact and a bunch of little things that have compounded the problems.
My personal opinion!-
constant flow of hydo facility- all of them.
The nets in northern Huron
the damn birds
Low water
Walleyes-millions of them
We all know of the ballast water issues
It's been mentioned on here before of the lower levels of phosphates that possibly made a Big difference in the amount of available food at the bottom of food chain. because without the little critters you don't have the bigger ones.
Huron has never been fertile, and may have been artificially supplimented for years. It may have helped the lake really!

With all these changes in a matter of a few years, How is the lake going to adapt. It takes time.

imo-i'm no biologist! Just an opinion.....

JFL · Lunker Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Posts: 105

It was theorized that the Alewife decline was due to some successive cold winters, whereby the majority of Lake Huron froze over, thus affecting the population of Alewife.

It probably also doesn't help that the OMNR and Michigan DNR have a mandate to restore the Lake to "heritage" status (Lake Trout and Walleye), as there would be a lot of competition for forage. On the Canadian side, we still have good runs of Steelhead, but over harvest and drought seem to be the most significant factors for the long term.

hogmaster · Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 7:53 pm Post subject:

Well I hear what every one seems to think has lead to the decline in the Alewive population, and it all could very well be true. It sure is if you read any of the DNR reports which contruibute all of the Alewive decline to zebra and quagga mussles, round gobies. These invasives along with the cormorant's are what seem to be the main cause, but if this is true the DNR does not have a plan for trying to bring back the Salmon. We are just at the hand of god. I have been hopeing to find out that the dioxens that dow chemical has been dumping in the river for the last 8 years was killing the plankton or the Alewives directly. Check out this web page if you want to really know what the DNR is doing and plaining. It sounds like we have all bought into what they say about it. Maybe there right on but I certainly hope not.

http://www.michigan.gov/./LakeHuronNewEcosystem-foodweb_122463_7.pdf