Lake Erie isn’t just Ohio’s Great Lake, it’s an economic engine for the state, with Ohio now home to one of the largest charter fishing fleets in the region. With about 945 captains, Ohio’s charter boat industry generates an estimated $14.6 million annually through fishing trips, pleasure cruises, and other excursions that encourage Ohioans and visitors alike to connect with one of the state’s greatest natural and economic assets.

Elevated levels of mercury in Minnesota’s fish populations have led to fish consumption advisories. The contamination comes as a result of the environmental mismanagement of local mining operations, which are a significant source of mercury contamination statewide.

For the first time in over a century, lake sturgeon have returned to Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. Earlier this spring, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources identified a three-year-old male lake sturgeon traveling through the Mequon-Thiensville Fishway, the farthest north a lake sturgeon has been spotted since these prehistoric fish disappeared from the Milwaukee River in the late 1800s.

By cleaning up their most degraded areas, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Buffalo have created thriving lakeshore business districts, helped people reconnect with nature, and laid the groundwork for population growth into the future. Learn more about how they’re contributing to the Great Lakes region’s “blue economy.”

Great Lakes Coalition to urge members of Congress to continue their support for federal investments to protect the drinking water, public health, jobs, and quality of life for the millions of people in the eight-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

The House has passed a three-bill funding package that includes funding for the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers for Fiscal Year 2026. Great Lakes and clean water programs largely maintained funding levels, with modest increases in several areas.

This morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced the American Water Stewardship Act (H.R. 6422), a legislative package that included a 5-year reauthorization of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition applauds this important step in the legislative process.

Federal funding cuts have led to the termination of an AmeriCorps program in Ohio, halting six years of environmental restoration work with Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners. The program’s wide-ranging work involved removing invasive species, expanding green infrastructure, monitoring water quality, increasing environmental resilience, educating the public, restoring habitats, maintaining trails, planting trees, managing greenhouses, and much more.