"We will continue patrols and law enforcement co-operation with the other three countries to safeguard shipping on the river, " he told China Daily.

BBC: China parades foreign Mekong killers before execution

They have advanced to within 55 miles of Lake Michigan in the Illinois River, which connects with a shipping canal and other waters that reach Lake Michigan.

NPR: Gov. Quinn Open To Great Lakes-Mississippi Split

When the Erie Canal connected the Great Lakes to the shores of Red Hook via the Hudson River in 1825, a new shipping centre was born, and by 1848 more than 800 homes, workers' boarding houses and warehouses had sprung up by the bustling docks.

BBC: A remote hook in New York��s harbour

Mr Roman said Romania had lost a lot of money since shipping was disrupted on the river.

BBC: Minister takes the Danube plunge

The thinking is that by shipping water north, the strain of overuse on the Yellow River will be relieved.

NPR: River Has Long Reflected China's Glories, Sorrows

Over a century, engineers altered the flow of the Mississippi River, the swamps shrank and then got cut into Swiss cheese to make room for shipping lanes and pipelines and levees.

NPR: Restoration of Gulf Coast Wetlands Poses Challenge

If the dams are not removed, new restrictions on logging, fish harvest, shipping channel deepening, and irrigated agriculture would be needed to avoid the extinction of five runs of Snake River salmon and steelhead, the paper says.

CNN: Salmon Swimming