The State of the Great Lakes Report 2026, a bi-national rating by US and Canadian government agencies, has given the lakes a “fair” rating, with a trend that is categorized as “unchanging.”
Overall, Lake Erie fared the worst, receiving a poor rating. Lakes Ontario and Huron were graded fair, while Lake Superior was rated good.
“The suite of Great Lakes indicators focuses on the basin-wide assessments that include offshore or open water conditions, with some nearshore or land-based stresses included where they have an impact on the offshore water quality of the Great Lakes. The indicators are not designed to assess regional or local conditions,” the report states.
These indicators assist governments in identifying challenges to Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health. A variety of factors were assessed, including drinking water, habitats and species, toxic chemicals, beaches, invasive species, and fish quality.
For anglers, fish quality is the largest concern. Contaminants are assessed in walleye, chinook and coho salmon, lake trout, and whitefish. Overall, the rating is fair and is improving, with PCBs and mercury being the main culprits.
Where Erie was rated poor — mostly because of its algae and nutrient levels — it shone in the fish consumption assessment, being rated good with Huron and Superior. Ontario and Michigan were rated fair. Erie was also the only lake rated good for toxic chemicals in whole fish, while the others were tabbed as fair.
Erie, however, was rated poor for land cover, hardened shorelines, and water quality in tributaries under the watershed impacts assessment.
Ontario’s hardened shorelines were the only other poor rating in this category.
Originally published in the Walleye 2026 issue of Ontario Out of Doors magazine
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