U.S. Coast Guard vessels hit the Great Lakes this week to begin ice breaking. Operation Taconite is the Coast Guard's largest domestic ice breaking effort.
"The operation encompasses Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, the St. Mary's River, the Straits of Mackinac and the Georgian Bay," the Coast Guard wrote in a news release.
The Great Lakes are, so far, experiencing a low ice season with only a 2% total ice cover, according to the Great Lakes surface environmental analysis. That number is slightly higher than this time last year.
Eric Peace is vice president of the Lake Carriers' Association, a group that represents the interest of commercial shipping companies in the Great Lakes. He said that there's only one heavy icebreaker covering the entire Great Lakes.
"The one heavy icebreaker is not enough for the Great Lakes," Peace said. "You can't be in one or two places at once."
He added that the association is working on getting more funding for icebreakers through Congress.
"It's a statutory mission for the Coast Guard to be able to escort our ships," Peace said. "To make sure that we can get those critical materials to the pier for national security reasons."
In a news release, the Coast Guard is recommended "all recreational ice users plan their activities carefully, use caution on ice and stay clear from shipping channels."
