Great Lakes Fishery Comission

After years of planning and legal delays, the FishPass Project in the Boardman-Ottaway River is moving ahead.

Representatives from eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces met this week to discuss management issues in the region.

The "FishPass" project on Traverse City’s Boardman-Ottaway River is now set to move forward. The Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a circuit court ruling on Thursday, October 20, which had stalled the project for over a year.FishPass is designed to replace the Union Street dam with a a first-of-its kind, high tech structure that would block invasive species, like sea lamprey, while letting desirable fish continue upstream.

The State of Michigan on Tuesday granted Traverse City $1.65 million to support an experimental fish passage system. Developers said the Fish Pass project…