Key Findings

The Parties have made progress on developing and implementing best management practices to accommodate the growing pressure of human development in the basin. Our understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes is improving, and many toxic chemical releases have declined over the past decades. Research has been coordinated to understand Lake Erie's changing dynamics including: the disappearance of some fish food organisms but the resurgence of others, the invasion of aquatic species, and increases in algae to nuisance levels.

However, natural habitat continues to be lost as our urban areas expand. The governments must address a fundamental question: collectively, are policy, program and management efforts sufficient to protect water quality from the effects of sustained expansion of major urban areas in the Great Lakes basin and to ensure ecosystem integrity?

Notwithstanding decades of research, new aquatic alien species continue to be introduced into the lakes at a rate of one per every eight months via ocean-going vessels, or from bait fish, aquarium fish, aquaculture and connecting tributaries. The Commission urges the governments of Canada and the United States to issue a standing reference to the Commission to coordinate prevention measures to help halt this invasion to the Great Lakes.

Without adequate safeguards, our health can be threatened by pathogens and disease-bearing microorganisms. The governments must focus increased attention on protecting the source of drinking water supplies. In particular, coordinated action by all those responsible for managing watersheds is required to avoid impacts from expanded land use pressures from agriculture, development, industry and urban centers.

Chemical contamination continues to endanger human health and restricts the number of fish we can safely eat. Several adverse health effects associated with exposure to methyl mercury, a highly toxic substance, have been identified in human and animal studies. In the Great Lakes basin, people are exposed to methyl mercury almost exclusively by eating fish. The Commission urges the governments to implement programs that reduce mercury emissions from the coal-fired utility sector, to make the risks associated with eating mercury-contaminated fish clear and understandable to the public, and to further research health risks to the Great Lakes basin from exposure to mercury.

Because of their complex nature, addressing the overlapping and interacting issues affecting Lake Erie requires a greater level of binational communication and cooperation than ever before. The Commission urges the governments to determine the cause of recent ecological degradation in Lake Erie and to take appropriate steps to restore its ecological integrity.

Many of these findings were reflected in public testimony at the Commission's Biennial Meeting, held in Ann Arbor, Michigan in September 2003. The very real threats we discuss in this report, and the public voice we heard at our Biennial Meeting, cause the Commission to urge that the governments of Canada and the United States take a precautionary approach to better face future threats and address current needs in order to enhance and protect the global treasure that is the Great Lakes.

In light of the above findings, the Commission makes the following recommendations.

• Physical Integrity
• Biological Integrity
• Chemical Integrity
• Ecosystem Integrity