[RamshackleJ]

wrong. The great lakes has been an ecological experiment since the St. Lawrence seaway was opened and continued to be that when the Chicago river was reversed.

There are almost no "native" species left in any of the lakes (excluding superior).

If you want sustainable native great lakes ecology you need to cut them off from the oceans, re-reverse the flow of the Chicago and do a one-off massive trout and other native fish stocking. None of that is ever going to happen so until then we can keep experimenting with ecology and in that case Zebra muscles is much better than massive population booms and busts of alewives or other invasive fish species (Salmon were originally introduced to help keep the alewife population down)

[Dwolb]

It’s true it’s been an experiment since the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened, but there are plenty of native species left in the Great Lakes.

This includes everything from walleye, lake trout, and perch all the way down to daphnia and diatoms.

The problems for native species in the Great Lakes has been driven by the introduction of zebra mussels, quagga mussels, the round goby, and spiny water flea (bythotrephes) for native food sources.

These new species have interrupted the food chain and therefore the reproductive fitness for many native species which further decimates the natural Great Lakes ecosystem.

[dccoolgai]

Walleye are native and have been one of the hardest-hit by the loss of turbidity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walleye also Perch, Pike and a bunch of other species.. and I never fished for them but I know there are healthy populations of trout in the western Great Lakes, too.