By Scott Sullivan
Editor
A bipartisan bill introduced by two Michigan congresspersons Monday would allocate $500 million over 10 years to fight invasive mussels that are harming the Great Lakes ecosystem and local fishing industry.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) brought the proposed Save Great Lakes Fish Act of 2025 before the U.S. House aiming to treat invasive species like quagga mussels.
Scientists have confirmed Quagga mussels — which take nutrients from smaller fish, impacting native lake trout and whitefish populations — now cover most of the lakebed in Lakes Michigan and Huron.
Longtime Saugatuck charter boat captain David Engel, whose family has been fishing on Lake Michigan for four generations covering 100 years, called the legislation way past due.
“There used to be 45 to 46 charter boats in Saugatuck during the mid-1980s; now there’s five,” Engel said. “Unlike zebra mussels, which frequented shallower water and largely ate themselves out, the Quaggas go to the bottom, 400 feet and deeper.”
“We see the fish bite and what’s on the bottom, put down cameras to and there’s Quaggas there,” he continued. “We hook them on our lines. They affect salmon, perch and other native fish too.”
“The zebras, which are smaller, peaked out in the late 1990’s to early 2000s,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources area coordinator Jay Wesley. “The bigger Quaggas withstand cold water better. We’ve seen them as deep as 900 feet.”
“Restoration,” said Engel, “is going to take years and years and years, so any federal money is warmly welcome.
“I hope we can come up with a solution to slow down these Quagga mussels and keep native fish from going extinct,” he said.
