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The Lake Ontario LaMP - An Introduction
The overarching goal of the Lake Ontario Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP)
is to restore and protect the uses of Lake Ontario. The LaMP is designed to
provide the framework for binational environmental protection efforts to
restore and protect the lake.
The Lake Ontario LaMP is led by four agencies, often referred to as the Four
Parties - Environment Canada, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the
Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
In 1987, under the terms of amendments to the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement (GLWQA), the governments of Canada and the United States made a
commitment to establish a LaMP for each of the five Great Lakes. These
Lakewide Management Plans identify actions necessary to restore and protect
the Great Lakes and co-ordinate the work of the numerous partners involved
in the implementation of these actions.
The LaMP was built on the cornerstone laid in the Lake Ontario Toxics
Management Plan (LOTMP). The LOTMP, established in 1987, identified eleven
priority toxic chemicals affecting the Lake Ontario ecosystem. It then
committed the Four Parties to develop and implement a plan to reduce inputs
of priority toxic chemicals through both individual and joint agency
actions. In 1996 a Letter of Intent was signed by the Four Parties which
incorporated the relevant goals and objectives of the LOTMP into the LaMP
and broadened its scope beyond the initial contaminant based approach.
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement describes environmental problems in
terms of impairments of beneficial uses. These impairments have fourteen
indicators and are the same as those used for Remedial Action Plans (RAPs).
They range from water quality that is suitable for drinking, recreation,
agricultural and industrial uses; to fish and wildlife populations that are
healthy, sustainable and suitable for human consumption.
An ecosystem approach is applied in the Lakewide Management Plan to restore
and protect the beneficial uses in open waters. The ecosystem approach
recognizes that all of the components of the environment constantly interact
and that actions that affect one of these components affect the others.
Plans for LaMPs are developed in four stages:
- problem definition (Stage 1),
- schedule for load reduction activities (Stage 2),
- selection of remediation measures (Stage 3) and
- implementation and monitoring for successful results (Stage 4).
Goals and Scope of the LaMP
While the overall goal of the LaMP is to restore and protect Lake
Ontario, the Four Parties have agreed to a number of specific goals and
objectives. These ecosystem goals for Lake Ontario are as follows:
The Lake Ontario Ecosystem should be maintained and as necessary restored or
enhanced to support self-reproducing diverse biological communities.
The presence of contaminants shall not limit the uses of fish, wildlife, and
waters of the Lake Ontario basin by humans and shall not cause adverse
health effects in plants, fish, animals and humans.
We as a society shall recognize our capacity to cause great changes in the
ecosystem and we shall conduct our activities in such a way as to protect
the Lake Ontario basin.
The Lake Ontario LaMP will focus on those environmental problems which
are lakewide in nature and need a combined Canada and U.S. effort to
resolve. It will address the critical pollutants which contribute to, or
have the potential to contribute to, these lakewide problems because they
are toxic, persist for long periods in the environment, and often have the
ability to accumulate in organisms such as fish, birds, wildlife and humans.
Local issues around the lake have been the focus of Remedial Action Plans (RAPs)
in the eight Areas of Concern in Lake Ontario (including the Niagara River).
These problems will continue to be addressed through local efforts with
provincial and federal support in Canada and state and federal support in
the United States.
The Lakewide Management Plan will be coordinated with RAPs within the Lake
Ontario drainage basin and other localized efforts. In addition, the LaMP
will work with, support and coordinate with other natural resource
management activities, such as the development of Lake Ontario fish
community objectives by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Lake
Ontario Committee of Fisheries Managers. The LaMP also recognizes the
important connection between efforts of local and regional groups and water
quality improvements in Lake Ontario.
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