The Great Lakes 2024

Mackinac Bridge | credit USCG

This post provides a review of the 2023 season and provides a summary of news from around region for 2024.

Great Lakes ice coverage was measured at 2.7 % on February 11, 2024, according to NOAA Research.

A report released by the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) finds that 40.8 billion gallons of water per day were withdrawn from the Great Lakes basin in 2022, representing about a 3% decrease from 2021 withdrawals.

Two U.S. Coast Guard sectors have been renamed for 2024. Sector Buffalo is now Sector Eastern Great Lakes, The Sector Headquarters are located on Lake Erie near the mouth of the Buffalo River in Buffalo, New York. Sector Sault Ste. Marie was renamed Sector Northern Great Lakes and is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

The Philip R. Clarke was the last ship through the Soo Locks for the 2023-2024 Great Lakes navigation season. Located in Sault Ste Marie, MI, on the St. Marys River, the locks connect Lake Superior to the Lower Great Lakes. The Soo Locks will reopen on Monday, March 25, 2024. The Visitor Center will reopen May 1, 2024.

U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters moved 81.4 million tons of cargo in 2023, according to Lake Carriers' Association (LCA).

In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced port improvement projects under the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a PIDP project will complete Phase 2 of the Agricultural Maritime Export Facility. When completed, the project will improve efficiency by expanding grain storage capacity for staging inbound and outbound grains by over 1.3 million bushels.

In January 2024, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District announced that a habitat restoration project along the Buffalo River near Katherine Street has been completed.

The $2.7 million project, funded by the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, was the final habitat restoration project required to complete management actions before delisting the Buffalo River Area of Concern.

USACE Buffalo District has also awarded a $6.3 million contract for repairs to the Vermilion Harbor West Pier on the south shore of Lake Erie.

Repairs at the south end of the west pier will include installation of a soldier pile wall and sheet pile lagging connected to subsurface rock and bedrock, and re-installation of cut stone to form revetments. Construction is scheduled to begin in May and be completed by fall 2024.

USACE Buffalo District completed $1.2 million in repairs to approximately 900 feet of the west pier from the beach to the north wrap in 2023.

In March 2024, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), the Great Lakes Commission (GLC), and International Joint Commission (IJC) formally signed the first-ever memorandum of understanding (MOU) between them.

The agreement sets a clear path for advancing the commissions' existing shared goals and objectives, such as developing a Great Lakes science plan, coordinating science vessel activities, and promoting annual Great Lakes Day events.