Habitat Advisory Board
(reorganized in June 2000 as Great Lakes Fish Habitat Conservation Committee)

Part of the charge from Canada and the United States to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is to determine which measures will make possible the maximum sustained productivity of Great Lakes fish. The Commission has long recognized that habitat quality and quantity relate directly to this charge. The Commission has repeatedly confronted a wide range of habitat issues and concluded that its role in these matters is as an advocate for fishery resources and to act as a catalyst for the development of improved habitat assessment and management capabilities among the agencies with mandates and programs involving the welfare of the Great Lakes ecosystem. To achieve this end, the Commission has established a Habitat Advisory Board and asked the Board to work with the Commission to:

• identify and address current and emerging habitat issues that may impede achievement of fishery goals;
• propose strategies, programs, methods or criteria for habitat protection, rehabilitation, development or conservation;
• foster the development of quantitative and qualitative habitat assessment techniques for fish communities and species of concern;
• assist each Lake Committee to develop environmental objectives essential to achieving its fishery objectives;
• encourage public support for habitat management by developing a public information program stressing the importance of habitat management in achieving fishery goals; and
• develop an integrated habitat policy and management approach among fishery and other resource management agencies and interest groups and seek commitments for implementation.

Persons appointed to the Board will generally be fishery or environmental policy makers, or persons with a broad overview of fishery and environmental matters who influence policy makers. Decisions are made by consensus. When consensus cannot be achieved, the differing opinions are described in the Board's report to the Commission.

For deliberations of this Board, the area of concern is as defined in the Great Lakes Fishery Commission Convention: "Lake Ontario (including the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario to the 45th Parallel of latitude), Lake Erie, Lake Huron (including Lake St. Clair), Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and their connecting waters,. . . " and the area of concern ". . .shall also apply to the tributaries of each of the above waters to the extent necessary to investigate any stock of fish of common concern, the taking of habitat of which is confined predominantly to the Convention Area."

Available Online

• International position statement and evaluation guidelines for artificial reefs in the Great Lakes
• Toward integrating remedial-action and fishery-management planning in Great Lakes areas of concern
• A survey of fish-community and habitat goals/objectives/targets and status in Great Lakes areas of concern. (ZIP)
• Methods of modifying habitat to benefit the Great Lakes ecosystem.
• Coordinated Activities Program
• "Addressing Concerns for Water Quality Impacts from Large-Scale Great Lakes Aquaculture"
• "Atlas of the Spawning and Nursery Areas of Great Lakes Fishes"
• "Best Management Practices for 'soft engineering' of shorelines" 
• Fish Habitat Database

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