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Monday, August 18, 2008
- Michael Scott, Plain Dealer Reporter
Inventors have aptly dubbed their fish-helping device a CHUB - Cuyahoga Habitat Underwater Basket.
So far, the CHUBs appear to be the best chance for fattening up fish that for decades have been unable to feed, breed or find shelter along the industrial stretch of the river.
Oxygen levels are low in this five-mile section of the river from Harvard Road to Lake Erie, making it extremely difficult for many species of fish to survive the upriver swim to spawn in the river's tributaries.
About the size of a throw pillow, the hanging underwater baskets are designed to provide a stop-off spot for fish.
Members of the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization, a nonprofit organization dedicated to renewing and revitalizing the Cuyahoga River, its tributaries and watershed, will place up to 400 CHUBs in the Cuyahoga this week, said Executive Director James White.
"We're ready, but even after we get them all in, we want to make sure the plants are growing and the fish are using them," White said.
The habitat baskets, hung by chains along corrugated metal bulkheads that line the banks of the river, contain mesh bags with aquatic plants. Fish are drawn to the plants because they can rest, hide and eat.
Environmental experts have said that more than 70 species of fish enter the shipping channel.
Custom Rubber Corp. of Cleveland is making the baskets, while the mesh bags are manufactured in Grafton by Filtrexx International.
The CHUBs were paid for by a federal grant and some money from Arcelor Mittal Steel USA.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
John C. Kuehner
Plain Dealer Reporter
Planners want to launch a project that will explore whether fish and ore boats can coexist on the Cuyahoga River.
What they want to create is a stream bank that offers habitat for fish migrating from Lake Erie to spawning areas upriver while also allowing for ship movement.
But the vision goes beyond just helping restore the health of the Cuyahoga River. What planners hope to design is a new generation of inexpensive stream-bank curbs that can be manufactured in the Cuyahoga Valley and create jobs here.
A successful product then could be sold to other Great Lakes port cities that face the same problems of protecting local industrial ship traffic and helping fish, said Jim White, who heads the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan, which will lead the design and development process.
"Given the cost of replacing bulkheads, it's a several hundred million, if not a $1 billion, marketplace," White said.
The Cuyahoga River alone has 11 miles of bulkheads that line both sides of the stream bank from Lake Erie to the Mittal Steel USA Cleveland plant to a depth of about 22 feet.
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