Lake Huron: Our Waterworld

The original name for Lake Huron is Gichi-Aazhoogami-Gichigami in Anishinaabemowin, and means 'Great Crosswater Sea.' It the second-largest Great Lake with a surface area of almost 60,000 square kilometres—the fifth-largest freshwater lake in the world (by area). It is part of the ancestral territory of Anishinaabe Nation that live along its shores. 

It boasts the longest shoreline of the Great Lakes, extending 6,159 km, and is home to many thousands of islands—by far the most of any Great Lake. These islands vary in size, from small rocky outcrops to larger inhabited islands like Manitoulin Island, which is the world's largest freshwater island. The many islands of Lake Huron provide unique habitats for wildlife, offer recreational opportunities for visitors, and contribute to the lake's scenic beauty.

Nearly 22 millions pounds of plastic waste are entering the Great Lakes every year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology, threatening one of the largest reservoirs of freshwater on the planet that supports nearly 50 million people in Canada and the U.S. A recent study on fish species in Lake Ontario and Lake Superior found 'the highest concentration of microplastics and other anthropogenic microparticles ever reported in bony fish.'

Waterborne-garbage-collecting seabins are now installed at marinas across the Great Lakes and while we applaud this effort, it does not address the problem on more remote shorelines and islands. 

Three Waters Foundation aims to protect and tidy the less-populated wilderness areas that are impacted by washed-up anthropogenic debris.

Macroplastic pollution litters the remote island habitats favoured by native fish and birds. Microplastic contamination accumulating in the Great Lakes ecosystem enters the food web and is harmful to all life. 

Microplastics—fragments less than 5 mm in length—make up roughly 50% of the plastic contaminants present in the Great Lakes. Microplastic poses the gravest threat to the ecosystem because a large percentage of it is barely visible to the naked eye.