Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Cornelia
The oceangoing Cornelia at anchor off the Duluth piers in early November 2016.
Grain gains in the Twin Ports
Brooks Johnson reports for the Duluth News Tribune:
In the grand scheme of shipping cargos, grain is just 10 percent of what moves in and out of the port, at least by weight. (It turns out taconite pellets are a little heavier than grain.) But just count all the grain elevators and silos and it’s easy to see why even a slight uptick can be reason for celebration.
Through September, more than 1 million tons of grain had moved through the Twin Ports (and plenty more has since, reports Herstad.) There was a 60,000 ton spike in September compared to 2015, helping push the year-to-date total 80,000 tons above last year’s rate — though October is typically a busy grain month in any year.
The Cornelia, pictured above at anchor off the Duluth piers, is one of the oceangoing ships visiting the Twin Ports for grain this fall. The vessel sat outside the harbor for about three weeks while waiting to load – a bit of déjà vu after last year’s visit.
Record-breaking warmth to start the month
Is it really the second week of November? It sure doesn’t feel like it.
“A weather system over northwestern Ontario smashed long-standing records for high temperatures in several communities over the weekend,” TBNewsWatch reported this week.
Thunder Bay reached 16.6° C (about 62° F) to break a 70-year-old high-temp record.
Duluth, with an average temperature of 50.1° F, experienced its warmest first week of November in more than 140 years of record-keeping, says the U.S. National Weather Service.
Over the weekend, high temps in the Upper Peninsula were up to 30° F above average. Houghton hit 72° F on November 6, breaking the previous record by 7° F. Marquette reached 70° F on the 6th for just the second time since 1885.
+ Surface water temperatures on the Great Lakes, already well above long-term average, actually increased during the first week of November, MLive reported. The warm water could result in lots of lake effect snow when it does turn cold.
+ Will the warm Great Lakes mean less ice this winter? WBFO explores that question for its Great Lakes Today series.
French River hatchery to close
The Minnesota DNR is shutting down the French River fish hatchery, which was built in the 1970s and would need millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades to stay open.
But worry not, North Shore anglers. The hatchery’s production of Kamloops trout (which do not reproduce in the wild) will be picked up by other facilities.
According to a news release:
“Kamloops provide a popular near-shore fishery for Lake Superior anglers,” (Fisheries Chief Don) Pereira said. “We will continue to produce Kamloops at another nearby hatchery until an agreed-upon strategy is reached with the Lake Superior Advisory Group, a group of anglers who work with the DNR on Lake Superior issues.”
Under current French River operations, each Kamloop an angler keeps costs approximately $160 to produce. The hatchery is inefficient because it uses Lake Superior’s cold water and must heat the water to a temperature at which fish can be raised, a process that is less costly elsewhere.
+ Over in the Upper Peninsula, the Michigan DNR announced that Chinook salmon no longer need to be stocked in Lake Superior “due to the success of the self-sustaining wild population.”
“By surviving and reproducing, wild salmon have demonstrated a fitness for the Lake Superior environment, and that fitness will be passed on to future generations, ensuring viable fisheries for years to come,” Lake Superior Basin coordinator Phil Schneeberger said in a news release. “From a DNR hatchery perspective, money and effort from Lake Superior Chinook salmon rearing can now be redirected to other important programs.”
The DNR stopped stocking coho salmon in Lake Superior in 2007, following a similarly successful rearing program.
In advance of Remembrance Day (today in Canada), Thunder Bay students visited a local cemetery and cleaned the headstones of those who served in the two World Wars, writes Doug Diaczuk for TBNewsWatch. Today is also Veterans Day in the U.S.
Channel your inner Inga: The American Birkebeiner is looking for two warriors and a queen, or rather for cross-country skiers to portray them during the February Birkie. The Slumberland American Birkebeiner, the largest cross-country ski marathon in North America, pays homage to the nordic tradition that spawned the race with the three characters – Norwegian warriors Torstein and Skervald, and Inga, mother of Prince Haakon. During the Norwegian civil war, the two Birkebeiner warriors, so named for their birch-bark leggings, helped to ski the queen and prince to safety.
GLIFWC receives grant for documentaries: “The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission was awarded a $10,000 Wisconsin Humanities Council grant to help fund a series of educational short videos highlight tribal history, sovereignty and treaty rights,” writes Sara M. Chase in the Ashland Daily Press.
Mackinac Island ferry competition drops to two: “The Arnold Transit Company’s 138 years of carrying passengers to Mackinac Island will come to an end this season,” reports the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Thunder Bay unveils emerald ash borer plan: The city will spend $6.3 million over the next 10 years to battle the invasive, destructive beetle, Chronicle Journal reporter Matt Vis writes.
New invader found in the Great Lakes: A non-native zooplankton species was found in Lake Erie, according to the EPA. It’s the first invasive species found in the Lakes since 2006.