Boaters have a special connection to the Great Lakes. You love the water. You spend your precious free time maintaining your watercraft so you can enjoy all the beauty the Great Lakes have to offer. And you’re also among the first to be impacted when problems occur.
Problems like invasive quagga mussels clogging boat engines and jamming steering equipment or startled invasive carp launching themselves airborne into your passengers. You’ve likely encountered foul, smelly, and potentially toxic algal blooms now appearing on all the Great Lakes. You witness trash floating in the water and discarded plastic littering beaches.
Because you have a special connection to the lakes, you’re in a great position to make a difference in your daily boating routine. First, consider cutting back on plastics, especially single-use items. For over 20 years, thousands of dedicated volunteers in our Adopt-a-Beach clean-up program have removed more than 9.7 million individual pieces of trash and more than 535,000 pounds of litter from Great Lakes shorelines. Of that litter, 86% was plastic. While individuals cutting back on plastics can make a big difference, ultimately, we need stronger rules that hold plastic producers responsible for the plastic pollution they create. Consider learning more about these policies and contacting your representatives in support of them.
For invasive species, making sure boats and trailers are free of all aquatic organisms and plants before putting in or trailering out is key. There’s also power in numbers. Organize your fellow boaters at your marina or boating club. You can even become an Alliance for the Great Lakes Ambassador or host your own Adopt-a-Beach cleanup.
Community is especially critical in tackling broader environmental challenges. Talk to your neighbors and spread the word about the importance of the Great Lakes. Reach out to your elected officials about restoring local shorelines and cleaning up pollution. Did you know there’s an important bill pending right now in the U.S. Congress called the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative? The bill renews critical funding for projects across the Great Lakes that’s set to expire. It goes to habitat restoration, helps farmers with field run-off that fuels algal blooms, cleans up legacy pollution and toxic sediments, and prevents the establishment or spread of destructive invasive species.
To date, the GLRI program has funded more than 7,563 individual projects totaling $3.7 billion, greatly improving the quality of life throughout the region. The GLRI also provides major economic benefits, as it is estimated that for every dollar spent, an additional three dollars of value is added to the regional economy.
At the Alliance for the Great Lakes, we work across the region to protect, conserve, and restore the Great Lakes, ensuring healthy water in the lakes and in our communities for all generations of people and wildlife. The Lakes’ boating community is a vibrant and critical component of that effort, and we invite you to learn more about the Alliance and how you can get involved.
This piece was first published in Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.