Lakers v. Salties

Matt from Ohio shared a useful bit of information he got from Great Lakes Day:

“I learned that Great Lakes shipping refers to vessels as being either "Lakers" or "Salties." Lakers are ships that stay within the GL ecosystem and Salties are ships that go to sea.... Never knew that before.”

Yep, Lakers (the ships, not Kobe or Magic) are the ones that stay in the Lakes. Salties are the ones that go to sea and pick up ballast water out there, along with nasties like the zebra mussels. When Salties dump their ballast water in the Great Lakes system, or enter the system without treating their ballast tanks, the non native animals and plants that come with the ship take over the ecosystems, threatening native species, water quality, and even industry. Legislation is in play at state and federal levels to regulate ballast water – you can learn more about those efforts at the Healthy Lakes website. Now you know...