Coast Guard personnel and assets oversee waterways management, permitting and water use, maintain aids to navigation and conduct ice breaking, in order to ensure the continuous movement of goods and cargo within the marine transportation system across each of the Great Lakes, Cleveland, Ohio, 2025. Safeguarding and securing the marine transportation system has been a mission of the Coast Guard since its establishment as the Revenue Cutter Service in 1790, facilitating trillions of dollars annually in marine transportation. (U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Lauofo)
Coast Guard Sector Northern Great Lakes is scheduled to close the South Channel in the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, due to expanded ice coverage in the area, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.
Coast Guard Sector Detroit is set to activate its Great Lakes Regulated Navigation Area; specifically, a safety zone in Saginaw Bay, Michigan at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.
The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise located in
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, announced its project funding for fiscal year 2026.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. ā€” U.S. Coast Guard Sector Northern Great Lakes commenced Operation Taconite at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 10, to prevent newly formed ice from hindering commercial traffic.
DOLLAR BAY, Mich. ā€” The U.S. Coast Guard awarded a contract for the construction of new multiplex family housing units at Station Portage, in Dollar Bay, Michigan on Sept. 23, 2025.
