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Laws giving Great Lakes shoreline landowners greater freedom to clear vegetation from their property should be scrapped because such activities alter water chemistry and damage fish habitat, state regulators said Monday. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said a recent scientific analysis showed that uprooting aquatic vegetation in coastal wetlands harms young game fish such as yellow perch and bass. It also reduces populations of invertebrates such as insects and snails that form crucial links in the aquatic food chain, the agency said. "This research has shown that protecting coastal wetlands and maintaining the integrity of the vegetation is more important ecologically than we ever knew before," said Wil Cwikiel, assistant chief of the land and water management division.
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