Great Lakes Water Pollution

Cartoonist Credit: Joe Heller, The Green Bay Press-Gazette

Background:
Will Water Pollution save the Great Lake Fish population from the deadly viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) fish virus? The VHS virus does not affect humans.

The first confirmed isolation of VHS occurred in fish collected in 2003 in Lake St. Clair within the Great Lakes region, yet no disease outbreaks were evident in the Great Lakes until 2005. The Ebola-like disease common in Europe that now threatens to devastate fish populations across North America as well as the Great Lakes fishery, a $4.5 billion commercial and recreational industry.

On Mar 17, 2008, Four units of the National Park Service (NPS) on Lake Superior (Isle Royale National Park, Apostle Islands and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshores, and Grand Portage National Monument) and the Grand Portage Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians approved a Lake Superior VHS Emergency Prevention & Response plan to protect the park and tribal fishery resources from the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus.

The NPS plan outlines 16 steps to prevent VHS from entering Lake Superior which includes public education, prohibiting exchange of ballast water within park waters, and using fish bait Certified Disease Free.

Cartoonist Credit: Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, Washington, D.C. 03/10/2008 @ Editorial Cartoons by Nate Beeler – Examiner.com

Miss Moneypenny reporting for the Undercover Times