Presque Isle Bay News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that two U.S. Areas of Concern, Deer Lake in the Lake Superior basin and White Lake in the Lake Michigan basin, have been removed from the binational list of toxic hotspots that were targeted for cleanup in the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. After decades during which only one U.S. Area of Concern was delisted, federal agencies have accelerated cleanup actions during the past five years by using Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informs that Administrator Gina McCarthy has released a new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Action Plan that lays out steps that federal agencies will take during the next five years to protect water quality, control invasive species and restore habitat in the largest surface fresh water system in the world. McCarthy, who chairs the federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, released the plan at a meeting of Great Lakes Mayors in Chicago. “The new Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan lays out the steps we need to take to get us closer to the day when all Great Lakes fish will be safe to eat, all beaches will be safe for swimmers and harmful algal blooms will not threaten our drinking water supplies,” said McCarthy.

The Bayfront Maritime Center (BMC) in Erie, Pa. has procured an upgrade to their existing BCG navigation simulator. Expanding their training system which consists of an instructor station and a one student position with single screen visual, ARPA radar emulator, Virtual Steering Stand and Electronic Chart Display, BMC is adding two additional student training positions. Each of the two new stations will support our PCBME ARPA radar and a Virtual Steering Stand for own ship control. The new stations will be integrated with the instructor station which is also being updated.

The 2013 Erie Tall Ship's Parade of Sails (with tall ship tours) is being held for the 4 days starting Sept. 5, 2013 in Presque Isle Bay, Pa., with some 60,000 visitors in attendance. This year's festival marks the 200th anniversary of the building of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet in Erie and his victory at the Battle of Lake Erie off of Put-In-Bay, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1813. Pictured is the US Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug homeported in Cleveland, as she follows the sailing training vessel Sorlandet, a 211-foot full-rigged ship from Kristiansand, Norway.

As part of the ongoing construction process, on December 22, 2010, Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair, floated the 135-foot-long, 10,500-horsepower tugboat Ken Boothe Sr. in Presque Isle Bay. The vessel was moved from Donjon Shipbuilding’s 1250-foot graving dock to a wet berth within the facility where final construction and outfitting of the vessel will be completed in mid-February 2011. The vessel is named for Mr. Kenneth Boothe, Sr., former President of Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair…