Sea Grant Electronic Newletters: 2009 Updates

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• January 16
• February 16
• March 16
• April 15
• May 18
• June 12, 2009
• July 16, 2009
• August 14, 2009
• September 16, 2009
• October 16, 2009
• November 16, 2009

• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008

November 16, 2009

October 16, 2009

CONTENTS
 1) Tidbits

• COSEE
• MN Sea Grant
• MI Sea Grant
• New York Sea Grant
• IL-IN Sea Grant

• OH Sea Grant - Buckeye Island Hop a Success
• MN Sea Grant - Great Lakes Regulatory Forum on Ballast Water Action
• WI Sea Grant -Lake Michigan and Great Lakes Beach Conference
• MI Sea Grant - Clean Marinas Open House
• MN Sea Grant - World Maritime Day Focuses on Fuel Efficiency and Climate Change
• NY Sea Grant - NY Small Harbors
• MI Sea Grant - Michigan Port Collaborative Summit
• IL-IN Sea Grant - Unwanted Medicines Workshop

• COSEE Great Lakes - Sweetwater Seascape - http://coseegreatlakes.net/newsletter/nl12.html
• OH Sea Grant  - Twine Line - http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/publications/twineline/
• MN Sea Grant - Seiche - http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/
• MN Sea Grant - New Fact Sheet - Great Lakes Shipping: Great Lakes Vessels and Fuel Efficiency
• WI Sea Grant - People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish
• MI Sea Grant - Tackling Wicked Problems through Integrated Assessment
• NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Seaway Trail Maritime Heritage Poster Goes to School in NY and PA
• NY Sea Grant - Lake Ontario Outlook May Prompt Action to Offset Decline
  

• OH Sea Grant -  Snyder Receives 2009 Lake Erie Commission Award
• NY Sea Grant - Poster part of award-winning project 
  

• October Network News has been published, check it out 2 see what upcoming conferences we will be attending! http://www.cosee.net/about/cnn/

• Catching Up With Aquatic Science Radio Debut - A new season started for Minnesota Sea Grant and KUMD radio as the first episode of Catching Up With Aquatic Science aired on 10/14/09. In it, Sweetwater Sue gabbed with a researcher about Archaea bacteria in Lake Superior. Sign up for the weekly podcast (also available through iTunes) or listen to the 5 min show at: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/radio/catchingup/
  
• Invasive mussels may have reached Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, threatening the Great Lakes - http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/sep/21/travel/chi-ap-mi-isleroyale-mussel - Zebra mussels make it to Isle Royal -  Doug Jensen Minnesota Sea Grant is quoted
• A UMD researcher is collecting data in Lake Superior with a remote-controlled sub. News at: http://www.startribune.com/...  University of MN Duluth, first freshwater underwater glider, Lake Lakes Observatory, http://www.fox21online.com/news/under-greatest-lake Jay Austin UMD project coordinator quoted, cool video clip
• - Win tickets to a World Maritime Day screening of Mysteries of the Great Lakes. Duluth Omnimax, Oct 16. - FREE tickets, 5PM, Oct 16 screening of Mysteries of the Great Lakes! World Maritime Day in Duluth. Sign up: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu
• Lake Superior fishermen finally catching herring http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11170004
• Spiny waterfleas discovered in Lake Mille Lacs http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/index.php/2009/09/22/spiny-waterfleas-discovered-in-lake-mille-lacs/
• Siscowet lake trout (aka fats) are the fattiest, most abundant of three lake trout types in Lake Superior. A new fishery? http://ow.ly/teil

• We overhauled the design and content of the Michigan Sea Grant website, see: http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/  Check out the new front page of our bookstore
• Concerned with the quality of our lakes and streams? Become a monitor: http://ow.ly/qI70
• Oct. 16 Great Lakes in My World and Adopt-a-Beach training. Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, Bay Village. (440) 871-2900.
• Good news! More marinas are joining the Clean Marina Program and others are renewing the pledge. See:http://ow.ly/trCV and http://ow.ly/trDb & Petoskey News-Review - News - Bay Harbor Marina's clean designation renewed Source: www.petoskeynews.com By Ryan Bentley News-Review Staff Writer, Bay Harbor Lake Marina recently obtained recertification as a “Michigan Clean Marina” based on its environmental policies and procedures.
  
• Effort on to weed out eco-choking grass  New Baltimore Voice Newspapers - New Baltimore,MI,USA By Jeri Packer, Voice Staff Writer
• Freshwater Summit on tap on this week Traverse City Record Eagle - Traverse City,MI,USA
• Ludington Daily News -  The big lake's surface water was warmer than the air today, with readings of 43 degrees outside of Ludington's harbor and 39.5 degrees off the first curve, according to the Sea Grant's Coast Watch satellite. ... Ludington Daily News - Ludington,... - http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/
• Jorge Salazar RTmiseagrant Growing shrimp in greenhouses Michigan ... Growing shrimp in greenhouses Michigan Sea Grant Director Jim Diana addresses the issue in EarthSky podcast  ... http://ow.ly/rW2t 
• Why not represent the Great Lakes and create a science zine about our waters? Check out the Year of Science contest: http://ow.ly/ulZI
• Although formed 14k yrs ago, the Great Lakes are still 1 of the youngest natural features in N. America http://ow.ly/t1qG
  

• IFISHNY has lesson plans for in and out of the classroom
• Fellowships and other Funding Opportunities available: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.a sp?ArticleID=74
  

November 19, 2009                                         8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.                                    IUPUI Campus Center, Indianapolis, Indiana Located just west of downtown Indianapolis.

• Why is Unwanted Medicine Disposal a Problem?
• Wastewater Treatment Issues
• Unwanted Medication Handling & Disposal
• Update on Legislation Regarding Unwanted
• Medicine Collection and Disposal
• Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Toolkit

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: November 12, 2009 – Enrollment is limited.                   

Bridgeman and his graduate student Justin Chaffin collected Microcystis samples during a large bloom that took place in August and September, 2008. Through testing, they verified that muddiness in the water acts as a protective shield for the cyanobacteria, particularly when the water is mixed by breezes blowing across Lake Erie’s surface.

Because Microcystis has the ability to regulate its buoyancy, more than 90% of the cyanobacteria can be found at the surface on calm days, further shading other varieties of algae. However, bright sunlight will actually damage the blue-green algae, regardless of the amount of mud in the water.

“On calm, sunny days, Microcystis floating on the surface became damaged quickly, showing loss of up to 50% of photosynthetic capacity in samples collected between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.,” Chaffin explains. “Even after 2 to 5 hours of recovery time in the dark, traveling to the lab for testing, much of this damage was still unrepaired.”

Ohio Sea Grant researchers at Bowling Green State University have discovered a winter-loving algae that may be contributing to the summertime Dead Zone. Drs. Michael McKay and George Bullerjahn first observed the algae, Aulacoseira islandica, in brownish pockets floating under Lake Erie’s ice in February 2007. The pair determined that the plankton sometimes made up as much as 80% or 90% of the biomass in collected samples.

Their goal now is to determine whether the diatoms get eaten by zooplankton and other organisms or simply die and sink to the bottom of Lake Erie. “If it turns out that most of these diatoms end up on the lake floor, they would provide a large source of organic carbon for bacteria to decompose, which would consume oxygen,” McKay says. “If this decomposition happens mainly when the water warms up and stratifies—forming a warm upper layer and a cold lower layer in the summer months—and not during the frigid winter months, it has to be contributing to the Dead Zone.”

The group will use Sea Grant funding to collect data for the next two winters, including taking part in several more science cruises. In addition, Environment Canada will use its icebreaker to deploy sediment traps that will sit on the bottom of the lake during the coldest months of the year, which should help determine if the diatoms are indeed sinking to the bottom of the lake. Preliminary data should be available in summer 2010.

To read more about this Ohio Sea Grant-funded research, visit http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/twineline/v31i3.pdf

7) Study looks toward nitrogen as big contributor to Lake Erie’s Dead Zone
For more than 30 years, scientists have pointed toward phosphorus as the key to Lake Erie’s Dead Zone. But new research from Ohio Sea Grant researchers Dr. Darren Bade and Dr. Bob Heath of Kent State University has found that a different nutrient—nitrogen—could be contributing as much as 80% of the oxygen loss.

The nitrification process that occurs in Lake Erie consumes four atoms of oxygen as certain kinds of bacteria break apart ammonium (NH4), first creating nitrite (NO2) and then nitrate (NO3). Since summer 2008, Bade and Heath have collected water and sediment samples in Sandusky Bay, hoping to find evidence of nitrification.

“Our studies to date show that nitrification can account for between 5% and 80% of the oxygen consumed,” Bade says. “That seems to point to a great deal of nitrification, but we haven’t been able to explain the variation. We thought it would be tied to the amount of ammonium available, but so far we haven’t shown that to be the case.”

Bade and Heath are currently testing bacteria in the collected samples to determine how many of them are genetically capable of performing nitrification. “We’re measuring the numbers of those genes that you can find in a community, asking if there is a relationship between the numbers of nitrifying bacteria and the nitrification rate,” Heath explains. The team will continue to collect samples seasonally through summer 2010 to strengthen their early observations.

“Finding this connection would conceivably mean having to completely recast the management strategies for Lake Erie,” says Heath. “Until now, all of the plans have been based on phosphorus and focused on limiting phosphorus. This would change everything.”

A Pennsylvania Sea Grant shrink-wrap recycling program has given boat owners in three Pennsylvania counties the ability to protect the environment when they protect their own boats.  This season, more than 50,000 pounds of boat shrink-wrap was collected from marinas in the Erie and Delaware River watersheds. Instead of ending up in landfills, this material was converted into highway guardrail spacer blocks, approved by state highway departments.

"The boat shrink-wrap recycling program, which is free of charge to the marinas, was an effort to keep shrink-wrap out of Pennsylvania waterways and landfills," said Karla Kaczmarek, Pennsylvania Sea Grant coastal outreach specialist. "Because shrink-wrap does not degrade it can be a hazard to fish, waterfowl and boaters if it gets into the water. In landfills it remains for centuries and centuries just taking up space."

Boat owners who use the low-density polyethylene plastic to protect their boats in the winter months left the material in designated areas instead of placing it in the trash. Marinas either deposited the shrink-wrap in a centrally located dumpster or established dedicated, fenced-in areas. Waste Management donated the Erie roll off dumpsters. Mondo Polymer Technologies, Inc of Reno, Ohio, collected the shrink-wrap from all the participating marinas and will convert the shrink wrap to guardrail spacer blocks.

In addition to Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Waste Management, Mondo Polymer Technologies, and DEP in the Erie region, the PA Sea Grant Chester office, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Program partners also assisted in the Philadelphia region with the recycling program.

12) PA Sea Grant - Aquaponics in the Classroom pilot project

Four middle school science classrooms will use 55 gallon tanks containing native plant and fish species as a platform for ecology, biology, chemistry, botany and social science lessons this school year as part of the Aquaponics in the Classroom program. This program, developed by Pennsylvania Sea Grant staff and funded by the Friends of the Tom Ridge Center, is a partnership with Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Allegheny College and the Regional Science Consortium. Classroom teachers participating in this program have received a compendium of 34 lessons to supplement existing curriculum. Approximately 375 students will participate in the program this year.

13) PA Sea Grant -  “Tall Ships” Program Connects Students with Lake Erie’s Environmental Science and Maritime Heritage

“Tall Ships,” a signature Pennsylvania Sea Grant program, returned in September to offer Lake Erie learning adventures aboard the U.S. Brig Niagara and the S/V Denis Sullivan.

 The program merges science, local history and hands-on learning. The historical ships Denis Sullivan and Brig Niagara provided the opportunity for students to learn about water chemistry, lake processes and maritime skills from Sept. 17 through Sept. 26 when the Sullivan made its fall port call in Erie.

About 500 students cruised on Lake Erie, hoisting sails and helping to navigate the Sullivan while learning to collect, record and analyze sediment and water samples to deepen their understanding of the current health of Lake Erie. Once aboard, students explored four to five stations to learn about plankton, water quality, fish adaptations, benthos (bottom samples and exotic species), navigation, maritime skills and density dynamics.

The program for school students was sponsored in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Crawford Heritage Foundation.

Both the Niagara and the Denis Sullivan have historical significance and serve as educational and nautical training vessels. The Brig Niagara, Pennsylvania’s flagship is the replica of the ship that played a key role in the American victory against the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. The Denis Sullivan is a re-creation of a 137-foot, three-masted Great Lakes schooner and an educational sailing and scientific research vessel with a modern laboratory on board. It serves as Wisconsin’s flagship and is also the flagship for the United Nations Environmental program.

14) PA Sea Grant - Unique watershed education program with inner city youth

What do the activities of a power plant in Ohio, a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and an automobile in Washington D.C. all have in common?  You may not know the answer but middle and high school students who live in Chester and Philadelphia now understand how these seemingly unconnected things impact Delaware River aquatic systems. They know that particles produced far away can end up as air pollution that can influence the Delaware River airshed and watershed.

Thanks to funding from the DuPont Clear Into the Future program, these students participated in the pilot of the new Watershed and Airshed Education Program developed by Pennsylvania Sea Grant. This innovative program engaged students in classroom, laboratory, and field experiences at local natural areas to develop a holistic and global understanding of how human activities and lifestyles impact airsheds, watersheds, and the environment. The only one of its kind in the Delaware Valley, this program integrates airshed and watershed concepts to give a more balanced understanding of coastal resource issues.

A second round of funding will allow Pennsylvania Sea Grant to continue this unique watershed education program with inner city youth from Chester and Philadelphia.

Snyder was Ohio Sea Grant’s first Extension Agent, hired in October 1978, and served in that position until his retirement on August 31, 2009. In those 31 years, he helped Ohio Sea Grant to become one of the top ranked programs in the United States with initiatives that included establishment of the Ohio Charter Captain’s Conference, held this year for the 28th time. His work with charter fishing captains helped to foster extensive growth in the industry, from 34 licensed captains in 1975 to approximately 800 in 2009. He was inducted into the Ohio Charter Boat Hall of Fame for his efforts in 1995.

Snyder’s work helped to establish Sea Grant as a trusted source of resources in the North Coast community. His Ohio Sea Grant Advisory Committee, the first at Ohio State University, was a key part in establishing Sea Grant’s State Legislature/Congressional Days on Lake Erie and in negotiating a communication system between the Camp Perry Firing Range and the public for access to key Western Basin fishing reefs.  

“Fred is the epitome of what it means to be a Sea Grant agent,” says Dr. Jeff Reutter, Director of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory. “He has always put the needs of his clientele first. He solves problems and eases the tension when conflict is present. No one has created partnerships, empowered people, helped businesses, or taught students better than Fred. He is highly deserving of this prestigious award.”

September 16, 2009

Contents
1) Tidbits

• COSEE Great Lakes
• MI Sea Grant - Softshore Engineering
• MI Sea Grant  - Fishtown
• MI Sea Grant - Grand Traverse Bay Mapping Project
• NY Sea Grant - Diving Partnerships
• NY Sea Grant - I FISH NY
• IL-IN Sea Grant - Lakeside Views: Teachers educate Sea Grant about classroom plants and animals
• OH Sea Grant - Aquatic Visitors Center a popular summer attraction
• OH Sea Grant - Boat Shrink-Wrap Recycling Program Hits Million-Pound Mark
• MI Sea Grant - Clean Marinas
• MN Sea Grant - Rip Currents
• MN Sea Grant - Beach Sweep 2009
  

• National Sea Grant - Climate Change Network Workshop 2009
• PA Sea Grant - Science on the Water Tour
• MN Sea Grant - Land Conservation & Clean Water Summit 2009 
• MN Sea Grant - Great Minnesota Beach Sweep 2009 
• MI Sea Grant - Clean and Green Marinas
• WI Sea Grant - Lake Michigan State of the Lake and Great Lakes Beach Association Conference
• OH Sea Grant - Buckeye Island Hop planned
• OH Sea Grant - New Climate Change Webinar Series Begins with Cap and Trade Topic
• MN Sea Grant - World Maritime Day 2009
• NY Sea Grant - Teachers' Workshop: Exploring the Link between Invasive Species and the Erie Canal
• MI Sea Grant - Kayak Detroit: Paddling Through East Side Canals
• IL-IN Sea Grant - Coast Week Seminar
• MI Sea Grant - Lake Michigan Updates from Regional Fishery Workshops
  

• WI Sea Grant - Communications Manager Position
• NY Sea Grant - Researcher Awarded Top Honors from American Fisheries Society

______________________________________________________________________

1) Tidbits
COSEE Great Lakes
http://coseegreatlakes.net  has news and updates since summer. More will come! Please check in often to see how and what our program is doing!

MI Sea Grant - Softshore Engineering
The Detroit River softshore engineering projects were featured in Landscape & Hardscape Construction Magazine. It made the cover story and included the map that Todd put together!  http://www.lcmmagazine.com/toc.php

MI Sea Grant  - Fishtown
Fishtown in Leland, MI is featured on NOAA's new Coastal & Waterfront Smartgrowth web site under "Case Study" for Element 5:  Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place that capitalizes on the waterfront's heritage.  See here: http://coastalsmartgrowth.noaa.gov/elements/foster.html

MI Sea Grant - Grand Traverse Bay Mapping Project
Assisted by Michigan Sea Grant, NMC is conducting advanced hydrographic surveys of both east and west arms of Grand Traverse Bay and northern Lake Michigan this summer and again in 2010. 
http://www.km.kongsberg.com/ks/web/nokbg0238.nsf/AllWeb/F4F5D670781F6F4BC1257623004BD9FB?OpenDocument

NY Sea Grant - Diving Partnerships
NOAA's Coastal Services Magazine Profiles Our Great Lakes Diving Partnerships: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/glunderwater/article.asp?ArticleID=375

NY Sea Grant - I FISH NY
I FISH NY - has new lesson plans for teachers aligned with NYS Education Learning Standards: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/ifishny/a rticle.asp?ArticleID=384
NYSG: I FISH NY - Teachers/Educators

IL-IN Sea Grant - Lakeside Views: Teachers educate Sea Grant about classroom plants and animals

Source: lakesideviews.blogspot.com

Aquatic invasive species make their way into our waters through a variety of means. One is through classroom specimens that end up released into local... rivers and lakes when the class work is done.  http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=120761241574&h=FJ3Yr&u=OBZ7j&ref=nf

OH Sea Grant - Aquatic Visitors Center a popular summer attraction
The Aquatic Visitors Center on South Bass Island saw nearly 12,000 visitors this summer, the first under Ohio Sea Grant management in a partnership with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. The Center, a former state fish hatchery, offered programming for children each Saturday in addition to educational displays about the creatures that call Lake Erie home and free fishing off the dock for children under age 16.

OH Sea Grant - Boat Shrink-Wrap Recycling Program Hits Million-Pound Mark
The Boat Shrink-Wrap Recycling Program, a no-cost service sponsored by the Ohio Clean Marinas Program and Mondo Polymer Technologies Inc. and available all along the Ohio Lake Erie coastline, has now kept more than 1 million pounds of shrink-wrap plastic out of landfills. The plastic has been turned into nearly 150,000 guardrail spacer blocks—enough to line 200 miles of Ohio highways.  For more information about the program, visit http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/cleanmarinas/shrinkwrap/.

MI Sea Grant - Clean Marinas
The Graham Institute at U-M recently wrote an article about the Michigan Clean Marina effort for their newsletter. Full story: http://www.graham.umich.edu/outreach/e-newsletter_sept09.php#marinas

MN Sea Grant - Rip Currents
Do you know where Science of the Surf?s mystery rip current of the month (Sept 2009) is located?  Minnesota Sea Grant?s Jesse Schomberg does! See: http://www.scienceofthesurf.com/ripom.html

MN Sea Grant - Beach Sweep 2009
Minnesota Sea Grant staff and volunteers are cleaning up Lake Superior?s shoreline during the last week of September.  See: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/news/2009/09/27

2) Events
National Sea Grant - Climate Change Network Workshop 2009
Climate Adaptation in Coastal Communities: A Network Approach to Outreach
Charleston, South Carolina, November 9 – 11, 2009
Purpose: Enhance the capacity of the Sea Grant Outreach Network to assist stakeholders in addressing climate change issues.
All Sea Grant staff are invited to participate.  Funding is available to assist one participant per Sea Grant program.
Full announcement and registration at: http://sgccnetwork.ning.com/page/sea-grant-climate-change

PA Sea Grant - Science on the Water Tour
September 17 6:30 to 8:00p.m.
start from Waterworks at Presque Isle State Park
Speaker: David Frew and Jerry Skrypzak
Topic: Tales and Faces of Erie’s Maritime History #2
A Science on the Water Family science cruise geared towards families, this 2.5 hour cruise on Lake Erie will explore the life in the lake.

MN Sea Grant - Land Conservation & Clean Water Summit 2009
September 24 - 25, 2009   8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska, MN 55318
Minnesota Sea Grant is an endorsing partner of the Land Conservation and Clean Water Summit 2009. The goals of the Summit are to:

• Help communities and natural resource professionals better manage land and water resources, and
• Maximize new funding and technical opportunities for conservation.

MN Sea Grant - Great Minnesota Beach Sweep 2009
September 27, 2009 - 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Sea Grant is a sponsor of the Great Minnesota Beach Sweep 2009. The beach sweep involves thousands of volunteers across Minnesota who will collect manmade debris from beaches, riverbanks, and streams in late September.  Minnesota Beach Sweep started 13 years ago in Duluth, Minn., when the Great Lakes Aquarium partnered with the Ocean Conservancy for the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC). Along with trash, volunteers also collect data about the debris, which becomes part of the global database and is used to enhance efforts to protect and restore global waterways. To join the Great Minnesota Beach Sweep of 2009 in Duluth, show up by 2 PM at Lester Park, Chester Park, or the Boy Scout Public Boat Access for Perch Lake (on the south end of Commonwealth Street, next to River Place Campground and Bait).
For more information, contact Margret Scott, Minnesota Beach Sweep Coordinator at 218.740.3473 ext. 1025; mscott@glaquarium.org.

MI Sea Grant - Clean and Green Marinas
Congresswoman Candice Miller will discuss the Clean Marina Program at a special program open house in Harrison Township Sept. 28. The open house will feature informational presentations, a chance to meet Michigan Clean Marina Program leaders, and tours of two certified Michigan Clean Marinas, MacRay and Belle Maer Harbors. Read full story

WI Sea Grant - Lake Michigan State of the Lake and Great Lakes Beach Association Conference
September 29-October 1 - Milwaukee, WI
http://aqua.wisc.edu/SOLM/Default.aspx?tabid=59

OH Sea Grant - Buckeye Island Hop planned
Spend a weekend on the Lake Erie islands at the Buckeye Island Hop, October 2 − 4, 2009, sponsored by the Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences Alumni Society and the Friends of Stone Laboratory. This annual event gives alumni and friends of Ohio State a chance to check out Gibraltar and South Bass islands, take part in an outdoor volunteer project, and meet new people. For more information, visit http://stonelab.osu.edu/events/island-hop/.

OH Sea Grant - New Climate Change Webinar Series Begins with Cap and Trade Topic
A new webinar series led by Ohio State University Extension and Ohio Sea Grant will begin this fall, starting with the webinar “Climate Change and Ohio’s Economy: Implications of Cap and Trade for Ohioans” on October 15 from 12:00-1:30 p.m. The webinar will provide the latest information on the:
·         Science of climate change, and potential implications for Ohio’s future climate
·         Status of federal climate change legislation in Congress
·         Role of cap and trade policies
·         Likely economic implications for Ohio consumers and businesses
·         Potential benefits to landowners through carbon sequestration offset provisions

Speakers will include OSU economists Brent Sohngen, Tom Blaine, and Tim Haab, as well as climatologist Ellen Mosley-Thompson and the Nature Conservancy’s Bill Stanley.  The webinar is free but space is limited. To reserve your spot, email Diana Lantz at Lantz.30@osu.edu. The Webinar series will continue throughout the fall.

MN Sea Grant - World Maritime Day 2009
On October 16, Minnesota Sea Grant and partners that include the Omnimax Theatre in Duluth, and the US Coast Guard will celebrate World Maritime Day with the public.  See: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/news/2009/10/16

NY Sea Grant - Teachers' Workshop: Exploring the Link between Invasive Species and the Erie Canal

New York Sea Grant and the US Fish and Wildlife Service offered a free, day-long workshop for teachers (Grades 4-12) in Spencerport, NY on August 26 at the Spencerport Trolley Museum and aboard the Rose Lummis.

Teachers learned about the Erie Canal and invasive species and how they and their students can help prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species. The workshop was supported by COSEE Great Lakes.

For more info: Ellen George, elg7@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610

MI Sea Grant - Kayak Detroit: Paddling Through East Side Canals
Excerpt from article in Model D by Kelli B. Kavanaugh
A couple weeks ago, Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative and Creekside Community Development Corp. teamed with Wyandotte's Riverside Kayak Connection and Michigan Sea Grant to offer a kayak tour of the Detroit River and Creekside's canals...

Michigan Sea Grant is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Mary Bohling is its extension educator for Southeast Michigan. "We work with communities on a whole host of Great Lakes issues, from coastal tourism and interacting with water trails to invasive species management, soft shore engineering, habitat projects…anything to do with education and outreach on Great Lakes issues," she says.

As we paddle, she points out invasive plant species that grow in abundance and prime fish spawning areas. To her, kayaking -- which she has anecdotally noted increasing in popularity -- is one more way to raise awareness of issues near and dear to her heart. "Throughout Michigan in general, we take (the Great Lakes) for granted," she says. "It's a 'don't know what you've got until it's gone' kind of thing."

See complete story published by Model D:
http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/kayakdetroit91509.aspx

Model D is a weekly e-magazine and Web site devoted to showcasing the positive and sustained transformation of Detroit.

IL-IN Sea Grant - Coast Week Seminar
The Great Lakes and northwest Indiana landscapes will provide the backdrop for a Coast Week seminar at Purdue University Calumet. On Thursday, September 10, 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Mark Reshkin will discuss the region’s geology and the history of human settlements, bringing the story up to today’s environmental concerns related to water. This talk is free and open to the public.

The seminar will touch on lake levels, climate change, water quality and quantity concerns, as well as ways that some environmental issues are being addressed. “In the end, I hope to convey that right now we are in a time of great problems, but also in a time of great opportunities,” said Reshkin, an Indiana University Northwest (IUN) professor emeritus of geology and public and environmental affairs. “With the Great Lakes initiative and other investments in the region, we can affect great change, but communities will need to work together in ways they haven’t in the past.”

In addition to his position at IUN, Reshkin has engaged in research for the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. He was also a senior scientist and chief of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Science Division.

The seminar is sponsored by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) and Purdue University Calumet. It is part of “Coast Week 2009: Discover Your Coast,” which is organized by the Lake Michigan Coastal Program, and takes place during the week of September 5-13. Coast Week features a wide variety of events to celebrate the diversity and splendor of the Lake Michigan Coastal Region.

“Wherever your interests lie, I’m sure there is an activity or two during Coast Week that you’ll find interesting and exciting,” commented Leslie Dorworth, IISG aquatic ecology specialist.

Mark Reshkin’s seminar will take place in the Student Union and Library Building on the Purdue University Calumet campus. If you would like more information, contact Dorworth at 219-989-2726 or dorworth@calumet.purdue.edu

MI Sea Grant - Lake Michigan Updates from Regional Fishery Workshops
Each spring, Michigan Sea Grant hosts Regional Fishery Workshops to bring anglers the latest information from
researchers with a variety of academic institutions in addition to state, federal, and tribal agencies. Our 2009 series
featured workshops at three Lake Michigan ports. Anglers were treated to a wealth of information at each workshop, and were given the opportunity to provide feedback.
• Quagga mussels now number 300-500 trillion and numbers are still increasing in waters over 300 ft deep. When water is mixed in spring, they impact the entire water column and have led to the disappearance of a spring algae bloom.
• Important native bottom-dwelling invertebrates have declined; a scud Diporeia has decreased from 15,000/m2 to 0/m2 , while our native opossum shrimp Mysis decreased from 100-500/m2 to 0-100/m2.
• The exotic bloody red shrimp Hemimysis has become very abundant near Milwaukee, but not in Michigan waters. Its effects are unknown at this point.
• The exotic spiny water flea Bythotrephes reached an all time high during 2008. This large zooplankter is hard for most fish to eat, collects on fishing lines, and eats smaller plankton.
• Biomass of young alewife doubled from 2007 to 2008 according to acoustic sampling, but was still lower than it was in the mid 1990s.
• Bottom trawls found large alewife and rainbow smelt at their lowest level since monitoring began in 1973. Round goby increased to 18% of prey biomass and are now found as deep as 360 feet.
• Yellow perch had good years for reproduction in 2005 and 2006 that are now providing good fishing, but 2007 and 2008 produced few young perch.
• Survival of stocked brown trout has been poor, with few fish showing up in angler catches. In Michigan waters, 621 browns were caught by charter boat anglers.
• A comparison of summer (Skamania) and winter run steelhead showed that returns to the big lake fishery were similar, but winter run (Michigan) fish were much more likely to contribute to river fisheries.
• Size of Lake Michigan Chinook salmon increased slightly from 2007 to 2008, probably in response to the 2006 stocking cut. Less than 0.5% of Chinooks displayed any sign of disease at weirs, indicating a healthy population. Natural reproduction now accounts for over 50% of Lake Michigan kings.
• Charter angler catch rate dropped slightly for Chinook salmon in 2008, but lake trout catch rate increased by 40%. Chinooks still accounted for 69% of the charter boat catch.
• In 2008, 14,226 charter trips were taken in Michigan waters of the Great Lakes. Although this is a decrease of 1,906 since 2007, long term trends are fairly stable. Lake Michigan accounted for 80% of trips in 2008.

3) MI Sea Grant - Wind Power Integrated Assessment Funded in West Michigan
Michigan Sea Grant awarded a total of $409,417 to researchers from universities around the state. The research
will focus on Michigan’s coastal and Great Lakes issues involving wind power and restoring natural river
flow in the Clinton River watershed. The funding will sustain three-year research projects and is contingent upon
annual appropriations from Congress. The grant funds are leveraged by an additional $254,457 from non-federal
sources, including state and university partners. A team of researchers led by Grand Valley State University’s
Dr. Erik Nordman was awarded $130,513 to explore potential conflicts that could arise if wind power facilities
were developed in coastal, tourism-dependent areas of Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan counties. As with other
Integrated Assessments, this project will address pros and cons associated with various policy options.

4) NY Sea Grant - NOAA and Sea Grant Remind Beachgoers: Rip Currents Can Be a Threat

Heading to the beach this weekend? NOAA and Sea Grant are urging beachgoers to learn how to “Break the Grip” of rip currents before getting into the water. Rip currents are a potentially deadly threat -- accounting for more than 80 percent of lifeguard beach rescues. 

Rip currents are narrow channels of fast-moving water that pull swimmers away from the shore. They can occur at any of New York’s many beaches with breaking waves--from the ocean beaches of Coney Island or Jones Beach to the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. 

Moving at speeds of up to eight feet per second, rip currents can move faster than an Olympic swimmer and can easily overpower a victim. Panicked swimmers often fail trying to counter the current by swimming straight back to shore — putting themselves at risk of drowning because of fatigue.

If caught in a rip current, don’t fight it! Swim parallel to the shore and then swim at an angle – away from the current – toward shore. New York Sea Grant coastal specialist Jay Tanski advises, “The best thing to do is to swim only where lifeguards are on duty unless you are experienced with identifying rip currents and know how to avoid them.” 

“Education is critical, especially for those who visit the beach infrequently and may be unfamiliar with this leading surf hazard,” says Timothy Schott, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Marine and Coastal Branch. “As part of the NOAA Rip Current Awareness campaign, we have developed bilingual English-Spanish signs to reach a wider audience with life-saving instructions on how to break the grip.”

"Rip currents can be killers. The United States Lifesaving Association estimates that the annual number of deaths due to rip currents on our nation's beaches exceeds 100,” says Peter Davis, president of the Gulf Coast Region of the United States Lifesaving Association and chief of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol.

NOAA offers the following safety tips:

• Swim at lifeguard-protected beaches.
  
  
• Never swim alone.
  
  
• Speak to on-duty lifeguards about rip currents and other expected water hazards.
  
  
• Many coastal National Weather Service offices issue Surf Zone Forecasts providing a three-tiered structure of low, moderate and high to describe the rip current risk. All National Weather Service offices forecasting a moderate to high risk of rip currents include this information their Hazardous Weather Outlook. These forecast products are available online at www.weather.gov.

More safety tips and educational materials can be downloaded at http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov.

NOAA Rip Currents Info 

NOAA/NPS Press Release '09 

Media: Newsday (July 31, 2009) 

Media: NY Times (Aug 19, 2009) 

Media: NY Daily News (Aug 19, 2009) 

5) WI Sea Grant - Swimming in the Great Lakes? Look Out for Rip Currents
Whether wading off a beach or training for a triathlon, Great Lakes swimmers need to beware of hazardous rip currents. These narrow, fast-moving channels of water can be just as dangerous as those at ocean beaches, overpowering even the strongest swimmers. Last summer, a Sheboygan teenager drowned while swimming in Lake Michigan when he was unable to return to shore. “Rip currents are a significant concern for swimmers at Great Lakes beaches,” said University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Water Safety Specialist James Lubner. “They can occur in many places, when waves push water up on beaches. That water then flows back toward the lake, sometimes forming a strong current.”

Not even the strongest swimmers can successfully swim directly against the current, but escaping from the current is possible if one knows how, Lubner said. “The key is to swim parallel to shore until you are out of the current, then swim at an angle away from the current and towards shore” he said. “The currents are relatively narrow streams of water moving straight away from shore. So swimming parallel to shore will get you out of the current quickly.” “The important thing is not to panic,” Lubner emphasized. He also cautioned swimmers and boaters to remember that the cold waters of the Great Lakes can sap a person’s energy quickly through hypothermia.

The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute annually provides Great Lakes public beaches with free informational posters and brochures about rip currents in both English and Spanish. The brochure in English is available online at http://aqua.wisc.edu/publications/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=458 or in Spanish at http://aqua.wisc.edu/publications/PDFs/RipCurrents_sp.pdf.

6) WI Sea Grant - Study Reveals Dynamic Wisconsin Climate, Past and Future
If the future scenarios being churned out by the world’s most sophisticated computer climate models are on the mark, big changes are in store for Wisconsin’s weather during the next century.

Using a realistic estimate of future global carbon emissions, University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are forecasting significantly warmer winters, altered patterns of precipitation and more severe weather events for the Badger state.

Those changes, according to the Wisconsin researchers, will be layered on a climate that, based on temperature and precipitation measurements from around the state over the past 60 years, has already warmed 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit, on average, and 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.

“Looking into the future, we are anticipating that by 2050 Wisconsin will have an annual mean warming of between 4 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Dan Vimont, a UW-Madison professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, who, along with colleagues Chris Kucharik, David Lorenz and Michael Notaro, developed estimates of the state’s future climate as well as a chart of climate change in Wisconsin’s recent past.

The future climate projections were developed through the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies in support of the Wisconsin Initiative for Climate Change Impacts (WICCI), a partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and others to assess the potential impacts of climate change on Wisconsin industry, natural resources and human health. The new study was primarily funded by Wisconsin Focus on Energy.

“Wisconsin is not necessarily getting hotter, but it is getting less cold,” says Kucharik, a UW-Madison professor of agronomy and environmental studies. “The biggest changes we’ve seen over the last 60 years have been on the low end of the temperature scale, not the high end.”

For example, since 1950, the number of days each winter when the temperature fell below zero degrees Fahrenheit has diminished by five days in southern Wisconsin and by 12 to 18 days in northwest Wisconsin. The decline represents a 10 to 30 percent reduction in the frequency of very cold days.

However, for the future the models also show a doubling of the number of very hot summer days, those where temperatures exceed 90 degrees F, in the southern part of the state from an average of 12 to 25 by mid-century, and a near tripling from and average of five to 12 very hot days in the north.

Northern Wisconsin’s springs and winters will also likely be wetter than in the past, with precipitation expected to increase in that part of the state on average by 10 percent in the spring and 20 percent in the winter.

“The models don’t agree about precipitation changes in the summer, but there is a robust increase in winter precipitation,” says Vimont. “Combined with the enhanced winter warming, that also means we’ll see a big increase in rain events in mid-winter.”

The biggest climate shifts, both historic and projected, are in the spring and winter, according to the UW-Madison researchers.

“In the long run, especially for the southern part of the state, we’re going to see a shorter winter,” Vimont says, adding that it is possible that the state may see more freezing rain and less snow, especially in the south.

Moreover, very intense weather events, such as the 14-inch downpour that breached the shoreline of Lake Delton in 2008, are forecast to become even more intense and possibly more frequent, according to Kucharik and Vimont.

The Wisconsin researchers arrived at their projections using more than a dozen of the sophisticated models scientists use to forecast global climate change. They were programmed to assess future climate based on the A1B carbon emissions scenario developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which portrays a future world of rapid economic growth, stable population, and rapid introduction of new and more efficient technology. The results, however, were tuned to a much finer resolution, a grid scale of eight kilometers, and can account for landforms and water as potential climate influences. The result is one of the most detailed and comprehensive regional climate projections for any state.

Vimont emphasizes that the projections for Wisconsin’s future climate are pegged to a range of potential outcomes as the data are intended to help working groups within WICCI develop strategies for adapting to a different climate. “We’ve done this in a way to reflect the range of possibilities for the future,” Vimont explains. “We’ve stayed very true to that. We’ve provided a very flexible database.”

The forecast of Wisconsin’s future climate was requested on behalf of WICCI in order to provide its various working groups with possibilities for the future. The various groups — which range from fisheries and forestry to human health and stormwater — need to have a feel for how climate might change in the future, say Kucharik and Vimont.

7) MI Sea Grant - Do anglers prefer more or bigger fish?
If the number of salmon in the Great Lakes increases, the size of individual salmon tends to decrease if the forage base remains the same. When given the choice, anglers at the Ludington workshop indicated that a balance of size and numbers is preferred. At other workshops, anglers who were not presented with a balanced option were split in their preference for size vs. number.

8) MI Sea Grant - CoastWatch Still Going Strong!
Surface water temperatures from across the Great Lakes are collected by NOAA Polar Orbiter satellites and made available in map format at the CoastWatch website, a cooperative effort of the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network and NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Images are updated twice a day when conditions permit. Cloud cover can create the illusion of colder surface temperatures or prevent data collection, as indicated on maps. Big lake trollers find this site especially useful for locating scum lines produced at areas of rapid temperature change, and pier anglers can also benefit by using the site to monitor nearshore temperature changes caused by summer upwellings. Immediately after an upwelling, nearshore surface temperature can drop to the high 40s in late summer. This brings salmon and trout into shallow water, and perch fishing improves in days following an upwelling as the water warms. CoastWatch. 2009. Great Lakes Surface Water Temperatures. http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/

9) MI Sea Grant - Buoy Provides Wind and Temperature Data off Muskegon
On July 10, NOAA deployed a Realtime Coastal Observation Network (RECON) buoy in Lake Michigan near Muskegon. The buoy collects data on air temperature, water temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Hourly updates are posted online; anglers can also create graphs of data using the Data Plots link. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. 2009. Realtime Coastal Observation Network (RECON) Station, Muskegon Buoy. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/ res/recon/station-mkg.html (Appeared in West Michigan Angler News Courtesy of Dan O'Keefe)

10) MI Sea Grant - Grand Haven Nowcast Provides Grand River Plume Conditions
Questions regarding the role of Grand River water in causing beach closures at Grand Haven led to development of models that are used to predict conditions in Lake Michigan near the mouth of the Grand River. Currents, wind speeds, plume location (tracer concentration) and water temperatures are predicted based on realtime conditions and posted at the link below. Users can also view animations of predicted conditions for the last 48 hours for most parameters. Pier, surf, and boat anglers can use this site to provide a bird’s eye view of plume currents. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. 2009 Grand Haven Area Nowcast. http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/gh/ (Appeared in West Michigan Angler News Courtesy of Dan O'Keefe)

11) MI Sea Grant - Statewide River Levels at a Glance
River anglers are always looking for the latest information on water levels, which play a major role in determining timing of fish migration, location, and peak activity levels. Streamflow data (updated several times daily) are available
online for USGS gauging stations on streams statewide. Archival data are also available, allowing anglers to match
fishing records from years past with corresponding flow data. In addition to helping anglers catch fish, this can
save money and gas. Knowing the gage heights that allow safe wading or boating can save you a trip to the river if
realtime data indicate dangerous conditions. The statewide map at the link below shows which rivers are highest, and can be used to select alternate rivers for fishing if your favorite spot is too high to fish, or too low to interest migrating steelhead. Some stations, such as the Muskegon River below Croton Dam, also provide temperature and oxygen data useful for stream trout and steelhead anglers. Steelhead activity increases as temperature rises above 4°C (39°F), and stream trout become stressed at temperatures above 21°C (70°F). United States Geological Survey. 2009. Real-time Water Data for Michigan. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mi/nwis/rt
(Appeared in West Michigan Angler News Courtesy of Dan O'Keefe)

12) MI Sea Grant - Toxic Algae Monitoring in Muskegon and Ottawa Counties
Warm, nutrient rich water can provide ideal conditions for certain types of blue-green algae that produce a toxin called microcystin. This toxin can cause taste and odor problems in drinking water, give fish an unpleasant taste, and help dense blue-green algae blooms crowd out more desirable algae that form the base of the food chain. In high concentrations, it can also irritate the skin of swimmers. If swallowed in large quantities, water containing high toxin levels can cause more severe problems. For this reason, people should avoid letting their pets or livestock drink from waters containing algae blooms, and avoid swimming in such areas. Blue-green algae blooms often appear as a green, paint-like slick on the surface of still water or a windswept shoreline. During the summer of 2008, toxin levels exceeded World Health Organization recommendations for low risk recreational use in open waters of Muskegon Lake during late August. Muskegon County’s Bear Lake exceeded recommendations for moderate risk recreational use during much of the summer. This year, volunteers with Clean-up our River Environment (CORE) and the Macatawa Area Coordinating Council are working with Michigan Sea Grant and scientists with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory to monitor microcystin concentrations in Lake Macatawa, Spring Lake, and bayous of the Grand River. Samples are being collected once per week for the remainder of summer, and results are posted online each Friday (http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Centers/HABS/index.html). Additional info on harmful algal blooms can be found at the link above. (Appeared in West Michigan Angler News Courtesy of Dan O'Keefe)

13) MI Sea Grant - 2009 Charter Study Update
Earlier this year, 277 charter captains were selected for invitation to participate in a study of Michigan’s charter fishing industry. This will be the first study since 1985 to estimate economic impacts of charter fishing based on client expenditures. It will also provide information relevant to marketing your business, as it addresses the criteria that customers use in determining their satisfaction with a charter fishing experience.

14) MI Sea Grant - Great Lakes Restoration Could Bring Jobs, Boost Economy

In a recent Detroit News article, Michigan Sea Grant’s Lynn Vaccaro noted that restoration of the Great Lakes could mean cleaner waters, but also an economic boon for the state and region.

Congress recently discussed doubling its funding commitment to the Great Lakes, adding up to $475 million for restoration to deter invasive species, clean up polluted sites and create jobs – taking the total restoration funds close to $1 billion.

Vaccaro commented that investing in restoration is an investment in the region and particularly in Michigan.

15) NY Sea Grant - Military TV Features Dune and River Steward Program

Application deadline is Sept. 30, 2009.  For details on how to apply and a detailed description of this position, please see the online position vacancy listing:  http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/pvl/pv_062660.html

Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the names of applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality.  UW-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We promote excellence through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

This is the highest honor given from the American Fisheries Society’s Fish Health Section and is a career achievement award for service and contributions to the field of aquatic animal health.The AFS, formed in 1870, is the world's oldest and largest organization dedicated to advancing fisheries science and conserving fisheries resources.

In a newly-funded two year New York Sea Grant study, Bowser and Dr. James Casey are examining the transmission process of VHSV, the virus that causes the fish disease, so that better bio-safety protocols and decontamination methods can be developed. “The virus destroys the cells that line the blood vessels (endothelial cells) in the fish and causes bleeding,” says Bowser. “Bleeding along wit other damage caused by the virus to internal organs, such as the heart, liver, spleen and kidneys, eventually kills the fish.” Over the last several years, significant mortalities have been reported in several Great Lakes fish species: muskellunge (a kind of pike), round gobies, gizzard shad, smallmouth bass and freshwater drum.

“This research is a perfect example of Sea Grant being on the forefront of an emerging issue and addressing research needs on how this disease is affecting Great Lakes fisheries,” adds NYSG Fisheries Specialist Dave MacNeill.

August 14, 2009

Contents
1) Events
- COSEE - Lake Erie Exploration Workshop Teaches Educators about Great Lakes Science
- COSEE - Bon Voyage! Teachers from Great Lakes embark on Lake Huron Expedition
- OH Sea Grant - Stone Lab Open House
- WI Sea Grant - Shipwreck Explorers to Host Open House
- MN Sea Grant (w/MI and WI) - Exploring the Potential for a Siscowet Lake Trout Fishery
- MN Sea Grant (w/MI and WI) - A Superior Science Expedition Inspires Great Lakes Curricula
2) NY Sea Grant - A Delicate Balance
3) IL-IN Sea Grant - New Study on Green Infrastructure to Assess Stormwater Management
4) MI Sea Grant - The Downriver Linked Greenways Initiative
5) MI Sea Grant - NMC leads effort to map bottom of bay
6) New York Sea Grant - Lake Ontario Water Levels Update Now Available Electronically
7) Publications
- MN Sea Grant - Twittering.
- NY Sea Grant - Journal Reprints
- PA Sea Grant - New Reprints
- NY Sea Grant - Collaborative Publication
- OH Sea Grant - New Lake Erie Islands Guide Explores Nature, History
- NY Sea Grant - Sturgeon Book
- NY Sea Grant - Coastlines - Spring 2009 - http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/Images/Uploads/PDFs/CL-Spring09.pdf
- MN Sea Grant - Coastal Horizons - http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/lakesuperior/nl_su2009.pdf
- WI Sea Grant - Aquatic Sciences Chronicle - www.aqua.wisc.edu/chronicle
- NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Splash! -  http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=73
8) Staff News
- NY Sea Grant - Associate Director Position
- MI Sea Grant (GLOS) - Available Position: Technical and Outreach Specialist
- MI Sea Grant - Outreach and Education Positions at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
- MN Sea Grant - New Staff
- OH Sea Grant - Fred Snyder retirement
- II Sea Grant - Water Resource Education and Public Service Award
- MN Sea Grant  -  Sustainable Tourism Publication Wins Award
- WI Sea Grant - ECO Award of Excellence
__________________________________________________________________________

1) Events
COSEE - Lake Erie Exploration Workshop Teaches Educators about Great Lakes Science
18 educators from throughout the Great Lakes region traveled along the Lake Erie coast to conduct experiments, interact with researchers, and create new ways to bring ocean science into their classrooms as part of the COSEE Great Lakes Lake Erie Exploration Workshop.

The workshop, a collaborative project between the Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania Sea Grant programs, began Saturday, July 18, at Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie, PA, and will wrap up Friday, July 24, at Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island in Put-in-Bay, OH. Along the way, the group will make stops in at Presque Isle State Park, Painesville Township Park, and Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve to learn about environmental contaminants, coastal erosion, estuaries, and wetlands. Four days at Stone Laboratory, Ohio State University’s island campus on Lake Erie, will give participants an in-depth look at current Great Lakes science as they sample water quality, investigate a shipwreck, and study the Lake Erie food web.

“This workshop immerses educators in science from sunup to sundown,” says Dr. Rosanne Fortner, Director of COSEE Great Lakes and Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University. “They learn about the Lakes from the researchers who are bringing the science to life, and in turn the scientists become aware of the needs of learners at all levels. We're striving for science literacy, and also for scientists' literacy!”

A blog about their experiences will be updated throughout the week at http://coseegreatlakes.net/weblog/.

COSEE - Bon Voyage! Teachers from Great Lakes embark on Lake Huron Expedition
Fifteen educators and several Great Lakes researchers ship off Saturday to study the science of Lake Huron aboard the 180 foot EPA research vessel Lake Guardian.  The Lake Huron Shipboard and Shoreline Science workshop runs from July 25-31, beginning Saturday morning at Hart Plaza. The ship will leave at noon, traveling north through the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and Lake Huron ports of call throughout its journey. The educators will conduct research alongside scientists while learning about ecology and lake systems.

OH Sea Grant - Stone Lab Open House
The 12th Annual Friends of Stone Lab (FOSL) Open House will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, September 12, 2009. Guests will enjoy tours of the 6.5-acre island, including a view of Cooke Castle; lectures and laboratory sessions; and historical photos, summer class information, and publications.  More information can be found at http://stonelab.osu.edu/events/open-house/.

MN Sea Grant (w/MI and WI) - Exploring the Potential for a Siscowet Lake Trout Fishery
On July 28 a roomful of fisheries managers, commercial fishermen, and experts met in Baraga, Mich., to discuss the development of a Lake Superior siscowet lake trout commercial fishery. A commercial fishery could assist the recovery of native deepwater cisco populations and yield a high-grade fish oil for use in nutraceuticals and high-value fishmeal. Participants reviewed the economic feasibility of an oil purification and fishmeal production facility in the Lake Superior region was reviewed and discussed sustainable fisheries in light of Lake Superior's food web. The Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant Programs cooperated to organize the workshop.
 

MN Sea Grant (w/MI and WI) - A Superior Science Expedition Inspires Great Lakes Curricula
From July 7-13, 15 teachers and environmental educators from around the Great Lakes Basin worked on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) research vessel, Lake Guardian. The educators spent a week cruising the lake, conducting research alongside scientists while learning about ecological processes and lake systems. Their goal was to integrate current Great Lakes research into their curricula and programs. Extension educators from the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant Programs facilitated the expedition and helped to translate the onboard experience into classroom lessons. The expedition, Shipboard and Shoreline Science, was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sea Grant Program through the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Great Lakes.

5) MI Sea Grant - NMC leads effort to map bottom of bay
Excerpt... from Traverse City Record Courier, By Sheri McWhirter 

Northwestern Michigan College leads the first effort to map the bottom of Grand Traverse Bay in more than 80 years, and school officials this week used sonar technology to distinguish sand bars, rocky shoals, fish habitat, logs, plant growth and sunken ships.  It's the only Great Lakes locale where such high-resolution, water-mapping technology is used. Officials hope it leads to more efforts to study the floors of North America's freshwater inland seas.

"To be able to tell people about what's in our Great Lakes is wonderful. We've never before seen the lake bottom like this," said Mark Breederland, Michigan Sea Grant's extension educator in Traverse City, and whose agency is assisting with the research.

Existing bay depth data stretches to the late 1920s. Modern sonar technology will provide updated, expanded information that can be used in environmental assessments, coastal management, bottomland studies, commercial navigation charts, fisheries research and tourism opportunities.

Data gathered as part of the research will be shared with agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and catalogued on a public digital water library, VanSumeren said.

Officials have worked for a week to map the bay bottom, and captured sonar images of what's believed to be the sunken Lauren Castle tugboat near Suttons Bay. The image shows a boat with mast sticking up in about 400 feet of water, where it sank in November 1980.

• Fall diets of alewife, rainbow smelt, and slimy sculpin in the profundal zone of southern Lake Ontario during 1994-2005 with an emphasis on occurrence of Mysis relicta.  M.G. Walsh, R. O’Gorman, T. Strang, W.H. Edwards, and L.G. Rudstam. 2008. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 11(4): 368-376.
• Grazing and virus-induced mortality of microbial populations before and during the onset of annual hypoxia in Lake Erie. C.J. Gobler, T.W. Davis, S.N. Deonarine, M.A. Saxton, P.J. Lavrentyev, F.J. Jochem, and S.W. Wilhelm. 2008. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 51(2): 117-128.
• Influences of prey- and predator-dependent processes on cadmium and methylmercury trophic transfer to mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus). D. Goto and W.G. Wallace. 2009. Canadian Journal of Fisheries Aquatic Sciences 66(5): 836–846.
• In vitro investigations of quahog parasite unknown (QPX). B.B. Allam, D.M. Buggé and, M. Perrigault. 2006. Journal of Shellfish Research 25(2): 707.
• Molecular genetic variation among QPX isolates. J.L. Collier, H. Qian, Q. Liu and, B. Allam. 2006. Journal of Shellfish Research 25(2): 719-720.
• Range-wide population structure of shortnose sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum based on sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region. I. Wirgin, C. Grunwald, E. Carlson, J. Stabile, D.L. Peterson, and J. Waldman. 2005. Estuaries 28(3): 406-421.
• Standardization of microcystin extraction from fish tissues: A novel internal standard as a surrogate for polar and non-polar variants. J.L. Smith and G.L. Boyer. 2009. Toxicon 53(2): 238-245.
• The diversity and distribution of toxigenic Microcystis spp. in present day and archived pelagic and sediment samples from Lake Erie. J.M. Rinta-Kanto, M.A. Saxton, J.M. DeBruyn, J.L. Smith, C.H. Marvin, K.A. Krieger, G.S. Sayler, G.L. Boyer, and S.W. Wilhelm.  2009. Harmful Algae 8(3): 385-394.

Rafferty, S.D, Blazer, V.S., Pinkney, A.E., Grazio, J.L., Obert, E.C., and Boughton, L. 2009 (in press).  A historical perspective on the “fish tumors or other deformities” beneficial use impairment at Great Lakes Areas of Concern.  Journal of Great Lakes Research  35(4).

Blazer, V.S., Rafferty, S.D., Baumann, P.C., Smith, S.B., and Obert, E.C.  2009 (in press).  Assessment of the “fish tumors or other deformities” beneficial use impairment in brown bullhead: I. Orocutaneous tumors.  Journal of Great Lakes Research  35(4).

The guide was funded by the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Lake Erie Protection and Restoration Fund and created in partnership with Ohio Sea Grant, the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail. It was developed to fill a need for the 68% of American travelers who seek destinations where they can experience the outdoors. The hope is that the book will also highlight the need to protect these natural spaces.

“The Explore the Lake Erie Islands Guide will be a wonderful resource for visitors, with exciting places to visit and information on birds, plants, snakes, and butterflies, and where to find them,” says Lisa Brohl, Chair of the Lake Erie Islands Chapter of the Black Swamp Conservancy. “It should bring an awareness and new appreciation of the natural treasures that the islands hold and the need to preserve them for future generations of visitors.”  Unlike traditional Lake Erie tourism, which generally takes place during the warm summer months, resource-based tourism happens year-round. Birdwatchers, in particular, are more likely to visit during the spring and fall migration seasons. An increase in the number and diversity of tourists to the area supports economic development in the Lake Erie region.

Guidebooks can be downloaded at http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu. Individual copies may be picked up at no cost at the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Welcome Centers in Port Clinton and Sandusky, as well as at South Bass Island’s Aquatic Visitors Center and the South Bass Island Lighthouse. To order by mail, send a check or money order for $5 to cover shipping and handling to Ohio Sea Grant, 1314 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212. For bulk orders, call 614.292.8971. 

NY Sea Grant - Sturgeon Book
The book, People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish, is now available for purchase through the UW-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center's publications store.  The book was written by Wisconsin Sea Grant Science Writer Kathleen Kline Schmitt, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Sturgeon Specialist Ronald Bruck, and Sea Grant Aquaculture Specialist Frederick Binkowski.  Published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, the 292-page book chronicles the history of the sturgeon and the cultural traditions it has spawned. http://aqua.wisc.edu/publications/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=566

• A Delicate Balance
  
• These Scholars Follow the Fish
• Return Unwanted Medicines Event a Success
• New Report Synthesizes Hard Clam Research
• Seeking Ways to Stimulate Sportfishing
• Supporting Municipal Resource Protection
• Tracing Sound Inputs Via Groundwater
• Sound Science for LIS

• Find out what is happening on the roof of St. Louis County's Motor Pool garage in Duluth
• Spend a minute with Coastal Council member Kelly Cooke
• Meet Amber Westerbur, the new Coastal Program Specialist
• Read about the Lake Superior Youth Symposium, newly available aerial imagery, upcoming events ...and more!
  

• Increasing Safety at Sea Caves - Measuring waves remotely will give sea kayakers better information about weather conditions before they leave shore.  Includes video
• Zebra Mussels Hang on While Quagga Mussels Take over - Could more byssal threads be the key?  Includes video
• Education News - Marshfield High School wins the National Ocean Sciences Bowl; New maritime history geocaches
• Wisconsin’s Water Library - Plan a kayaking trip
• 2009 Science Expeditions - UW Sea Grant’s “Musseling into Lake Michigan” exhibit draws a crowd. Includes video
• Program & People News - UW Sea Grant receives funding for climate change project 
• ASC Droplets
  
• Become a Lamprey Hunter!
• Mashing Things Up in Web Mapping
  

NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Splash! -  http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=73

• NYSG, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Presenting at National Scenic Byway Conference -New York Sea Grant’s Dave White and Great Lakes Seaway Trail Executive Director Teresa Mitchell will make a joint presentation at the National Scenic Byway Conference in Denver August 23-26. The topic will be how to revitalize a brand to benefit a byway, the businesses, attractions, services and residents along the byway, and the byway organization. One of the early results of the ongoing branding process for the 518-mile byway that parallels the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania is adding Great Lakes to the Seaway Trail name for broader geographical identity.  More info: http://www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/events/conferences/
• Military TV Features Steward Program -Drum TV is the military television station serving Fort Drum and the greater Watertown, NY, area. On Friday, July 24, soldier-reporter Sam Dillon aired his feature story developed from spending a day with the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Stewards. Dillon and Steward Program Coordinator Mary Penney toured the public access resource areas along the Eastern shore of Lake Ontario and Dillon interviewed the 2009 Dune Stewards. His report was enhanced with scenic footage of the Salmon River Falls Unique Area and information from the Fort Drum recreational services staff about how to rent kayaks, canoes and motorized boats to enjoy the region’s natural resources.  More info: http://www.drum.army.mil/drumtv 
• NYSG Dive Theme Partnerships Noted by Coastal Services -The July/August 2009 issue of Coastal Services Magazine published by NOAA profiles the partnerships developed by New York Sea Grant to promote the diving and shipwrecks resources of New York’s Great Lakes. The project includes the annual spring Great Lakes Underwater conference in partnership with the Oswego Maritime Foundation and development of the Dive the Great Lakes dive sites and dive theme outdoor storyteller signage system with the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. More info: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/magazine/ 
• NYSG Issues Great Lakes-wide Cross Border Boating Tips - To facilitate the most current understanding of Canada-U.S. cross-border travel requirements, New York Sea Grant and the Northern Association of Boating Administrators (NABA), with assistance from U.S. and Canadian border crossing officials, published the first-ever edition of Great Lakes Cross-Border Travel Tips for Recreational Boaters in May 2009.  The Tips, updated online, include the latest info on acceptable personal identification documents, contacts for ports of call in all eight Great Lakes states, (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota) and information sources for “Know Before You Go,” Customs, boat trailering, boat safety and travel/vacation points.  The model for the Great Lakes-wide resource is the Cross-Border Travel Tips for Recreational Boaters, RV Owners & Motorists Traveling the Great Lakes Seaway Trail published since 2002 by New York Sea Grant and the nonprofit tourism organization Seaway Trail, Inc., Sackets Harbor, NY.  More info: http://www.nysgextension.org 
• Eastern Lake Ontario Dune & Salmon River Stewards Are Bloggin’!  The Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Stewards are writing a weekly blog. What is a blog, you ask? It’s a type of website with regular entries, descriptions of events, and/or other items such as graphics or videos. This blog highlights what the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Stewards encounter each day. Some postings spotlight special events such as Dune Fest, Oswego County Fair, and Harborfest. Other postings spotlight the stewards’ daily activities as they monitor sites that provide public access along Eastern Lake Ontario, including Sandy Pond Beach Natural Area and Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, and the Salmon River corridor, including Salmon River Falls Unique Area and Salmon River Reservoir. New entries each week!  More info: http://www.elodsrstewardprogram.blogspot.com/ 
• 2009 Steward Educational Programs Continue - This year the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Stewards are offering a series of free tours and educational programs. The Stewards advertise their programs in newspaper articles published in the Oswego and Jefferson County weekly newspapers. Look for “News from the Dunes” and “News from the River” headlines. Upcoming 2009 season tours include:      … August 13, 10am, Beachgrass vs. Turf Grass & Salmon River Bank Erosion, Black Pond Wildlife Management Area Date/time TBD, The Trees of ELODWA (Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Wetlands Area)  To join the fun, or to schedule your own tour, contact Steward Program Coordinator Mary Penney, New York Sea Grant, 315.312.3042, mp357@cornell.edu.  New York Sea Grant manages the Steward Program in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Parks, and The Nature Conservancy.  More info: http://www.nysgdunes.org, http://www.elodsrstewardprogram.blogspot.com/ 
• August Teachers' Workshop: Exploring the Link between Invasive Species & the Erie Canal - New York Sea Grant and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are offering a free, day-long workshop for teachers (Grades 4-12) in Spencerport, NY. The workshop runs from 10:00 am-3:00pm on Wednesday, August 26, at the Spencerport Trolley Museum and aboard the Rose Lummis. Teachers will learn about the Erie Canal and invasive species and how they and their students can help prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species.  The workshop is supported by COSEE Great Lakes. Space is limited to 25 formal and non-formal educators.  More info/reservations:  Ellen George, elg7@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610
• October 14 Lake Erie Teachers' Workshop - On Wednesday, October 14th, from 4:00-6:00 pm, at Tifft Nature Preserve, just south of Buffalo, New York Sea Grant will join with Lauren Makeyenko of the Buffalo Museum of Science: http://www.sciencebuff.org/tifft-nature-preserve/ to offer a teachers workshop on Lake Erie.  This free workshop, supported by COSEE Great Lakes, will feature educational materials to help teach about this important Great Lake.  More info/reservations:  Ellen George, elg7@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610
• NYSG Lake Ontario Water Levels Update Now Available as Electronic Fact Sheet - New York Sea Grant’s new electronic fact sheet “Lake Ontario Water Levels Update” is now available as a downloadable/printable Acrobat file directly from the New York Sea Grant website at http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/glcoastal/WaterLevels-LOnt/Lake_Level_Update.pdf.  The Update contains information and graphs on: current Lake Ontario water levels in the lake with previous and current years, 20th century average levels, historic high and low levels, water level forecast as far as five months into the future, data on daily inflows and weekly average outflows, daily deviations from long-term daily average levels; and a chart showing actual measured water levels against long-term monthly high and low levels of Lake Ontario for 30 years.  Check for updates monthly during the ice-free months and bi-monthly during the winter.  More info: Chuck O’Neill, cro4@cornell.edu, 585-395-2638
• NYSG Invasive Species Site (NYIS.info) is Go-To Portal for Emerald Ash Borer Info - With the announcement by New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis of the discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in NY, New York Sea Grant’s “New York Invasive Species Clearinghouse” has become the go-to portal to all New York State resources on the small but destructive beetle that infests and kills North American ash tree species, including green, white, black and blue ash. NYSG’s Invasive Species Specialist Chuck O’Neill manages the site. More info on EAB and other invasive species in New York State: http://nyis.info. 
• Fish Habitat Factsheets Coming Soon! - A new series of fish habitat factsheets is nearing completion to help anglers, landowners and researchers develop collaborative projects to improve habitat for Northern pike, muskellunge and walleye. The series written by New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Fisheries Specialist David B. MacNeill is a collaboration by the Fish Enhancement, Mitigation and Research Fund managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York Sea Grant, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, & SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry.  More info: dmb4@cornell.edu
• Mark Your 2009 Calendar with These Important Dates -
  
• August 13 - Beachgrass vs. Turf Grass & Salmon River Bank Erosion: Eastern Lake Ontario Dune Steward and Salmon River Steward Program, 10am, Black Pond Wildlife Management Area, Town of Ellisburg - More info: http://www.nysgdunes.org 
  
• Date/time TBD - The Trees of ELODWA: Eastern Lake Ontario Dune Steward Program - More info: http://www.nysgdunes.org
• Aug 26 - Teachers' Workshop: Exploring the Link between Invasive Species and the Erie Canal: New York Sea Grant and US Fish & Wildlife Service program, free, 10am-3pm, for Grade 4-12 teachers, Spencerport Trolley Museum and aboard Rose Lummis, Spencerport, NY - More info/reservations:  Ellen George, elg7@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610
• Oct 14 – Lake Erie Teachers’ Workshop: New York Sea Grant and Buffalo Museum of Science, COSEE-supported, free, 4-6pm, Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo, NY. More info/reservations:  Ellen George, elg7@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610

http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=357  .  The search committee will begin reviewing applications after August 1st.   New York Sea Grant and Cornell University are equal opportunity, affirmative action employers.    

• Job Posting: Education and Outreach Specialist (PDF)
• Job Posting: Placed-Based Education Coordinator (PDF)

July 16, 2009

Contents
1) Events
- MN and MI Sea Grant - Siscowet Workshop
- WI Sea Grant  - Shipwreck Explorers to Host Open House
- MN Sea Grant - A View From the Lake 2009
- OH Sea Grant - Stone Laboratory Announces Guest Lecture Schedule
- OH Sea Grant - Family-Friendly Programs, Tours Available at Put-in-Bay
- MN Sea Grant - Kids' Fishing Day to Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers
- IL-IN Sea Grant -Youth as Agents for Change
- NY Sea Grant - VHS
- MN Sea Grant - 15 Educators Embark on a Superior Science Expedition
- WI Sea Grant - Educators Chart Course for Great Lakes Curricula
2) MI Sea Grant - New Great Lakes Research
3) OH Sea Grant - Lake Erie Model
4) MN Sea Grant - Lakeside Neighborhood a Test Case for Reducing Stormwater Runoff
5) MN Sea Grant - Zebra mussels found on Pike Lake near Duluth
6) Ohio Sea Grant - Tourism Toolbox Launched
7) New York Sea Grant - Blog Posts Observations, Photos from Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes & Salmon River
8) Publications
- COSEE Great Lakes - Sweetwater Seascape - http://coseegreatlakes.net/newsletter/nl11.html
- MI Sea Grant - Upwellings - June 2009 - http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/upwellings/index.html
- IL-IN Sea Grant - the HELM  - http://www.iiseagrant.org/newsroom/helm/helm09_spr_web.pdf
- MN and MI Sea Grant - A Little Bird Told Me
- MN Sea Grant - Sea Grant Files
9) Staff News
- NY Sea Grant - Job Announcement: Associate Director of NYSG's Extension Program
- MI Sea Grant  - Changes in Editorial Staff
- NY Sea Grant - Nab the Aquatic Invader! Web Site Featured in Year of Science 2009
- IL-IN Sea Grant - AIS Playing Cards Win APEX Award of Excellence
- OH Sea Grant - Shrink Wrap Recycling Program Wins Regional Award
- MI Sea Grant - Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator Sonia Joseph wins Program Leader Award
- OH Sea Grant - Mid-Career Award
_______________________________________________________________________________




1) Events
MN and MI Sea Grant - Siscowet Workshop
Exploring the Potential for a Siscowet Lake Trout Fishery
July 28 at the Ojibwa Casino Resort, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Baraga, MI

Siscowet lake trout is the most abundant lake trout variety found in Lake Superior. It has a high fat content in its flesh and viscera that could potentially be rendered to produce high-grade fish oil for use in nutraceuticals and its byproducts used to produce high-value fish meal.

The workshop will review the biological status of siscowet lake trout in Lake Superior and its interaction with other fish species. Knowledge of biology and stock structure — required to properly manage any fishery expansion — will also be covered. Workshop participants will examine how the development of a Lake Superior siscowet lake trout commercial fishery would release predation pressure and assist the recovery of native deepwater cisco populations.

If a fishery for siscowet lake trout proves feasible, potential regulations will be reviewed. In addition, a national expert will discuss the economic feasibility of an oil purification and fish meal production facility in the Lake Superior region.

WI Sea Grant  - Shipwreck Explorers to Host Open House
A team of 10 underwater archaeologists will share their findings during a week-long exploration of a historic shipwreck at an open house, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Thursday, July 30, at the Holiday Inn Harborview in Port Washington. The public is invited to stop by, talk with the archaeologists about the project, and view underwater photos, videos, and a photomosaic of the wreck assembled from more than 100 images. The event is sponsored by the Port Washington Historical Society.

The dive team will be documenting the Northerner, a wooden schooner built in 1850 in Clayton, N.Y. The Northerner worked the Great Lakes for 18 years, until her luck ran out on November 28, 1868. While being loaded with lumber in heavy winds in Amsterdam, Wis., she pounded heavily on the bottom. Sailing on the lake later that day, she began leaking badly. The crew put into Port Washington, lightened her load, and secured a tow to Milwaukee.

During the tow, however, the Northerner filled with water and capsized. All crew members were pulled from the cold water by the tow boat. Today the 79-foot Northerner has much to teach us about life on the shores of Lake Michigan in the late 19th century, according to Keith Meverden, underwater archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) and head of the dive team.“Shipwrecks are like time capsules,” Meverden said. “Small schooners like the Northerner were the economic lifeblood of hundreds of small towns along the Great Lakes.”  The shipwreck lies in 130 feet of water 5 miles southeast of Port Washington. It is one of an estimated 700 sunken vessels in Wisconsin waters of the Great Lakes, Meverden said.

The WHS program in Maritime Archaeology and Preservation is supported in part by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute.

See Wisconsin’s Great Lake Shipwrecks for more information and underwater photos.

MN Sea Grant - A View From the Lake 2009
 The L.L. Smith, Jr. research vessel is back for another season of three-hour educational boat tours along the Lake Superior coastline! Did you know that a drop of water spends an average of 191 years in Lake Superior? Join us to discover why facts like these make monitoring so critical to keeping Lake Superior and its streams clean and healthy. Participate in sampling Lake Superior’s water and bottom-dwelling invertebrates (small animals without backbones) and compare your data to other locations around the lake. Get great ideas for how you and your community can protect this amazing resource while enjoying the "good life" along Lake Superior.http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/vfl/

• Superior, WI on July 16, 17, and 18
• Two Harbors, MN on July 25 and 26
• Duluth, MN on July 30, 31, and Aug 1

• 7/30 -- Chris Korleski, Director, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, "Big Issues/Little money: Managing Environmental Issues on a Tight Budget"
• 8/6 -- Dr. Carol Whitacre, Vice President for Research, The Ohio State University, "Exciting New Research Developments at Ohio State"
• 8/13 -- Dr. Bobby Moser, Vice President for Agriculture, The Ohio State University, "Using Science and Technology to Stimulate the Economy and Reduce the Environmental Impact of Agriculture."

Children can take part in hands-on activities at the newly reopened Aquatic Visitors Center on South Bass Island each Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m. through August 22. The schedule of speakers and topics includes

• Lyndsey Manzo, Plankton, July 18
• Lisa Brohl, Bugs in the Water, July 25
• Larry Richardson, Birds, August 1
  

The Aquatic Visitors Center, formerly a State Fish Hatchery, is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays until August 23. Admission is free.

CSI: Lake Erie is a three-stop guided tour, held Thursdays through Saturdays, July 2-September 6, 2009, beginning at 10 a.m. The “CSI” in CSI: Lake Erie stands for “Culture and Science Investigation.

Participants meet at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, and then travel to the Aquatic Visitors Center and South Bass Island Lighthouse before returning to Perry’s. At the end of the tour, groups are sworn in as official Lake Erie Investigators and sign a pledge to become better stewards of our heritage and environment. Cost is $5. Reservations are recommended, though walk-up visitors will be admitted on a space-available basis. To register, call the National Park Service at 419.285.2184, ext. 227.

Kayak the Bay kayak rentals is offering guided tours of Put-in-Bay harbor with a walking tour of Gibraltar Island, the home of Stone Laboratory, Ohio State University’s island campus on Lake Erie. The tours, held from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays through Labor Day, are perfect for beginner or intermediate paddlers. Cost is $45, $10 of which goes to the Stone Lab summer scholarship program. For reservations, call 419.967.0796.

2) MI Sea Grant - New Great Lakes Research
Michigan Sea Grant awarded a total of $409,417 to researchers from universities around the state. The research will focus on Michigan’s coastal and Great Lakes issues involving wind power and restoring natural river flow in the Clinton River watershed. The funding will sustain three-year research projects and is contingent upon annual appropriations from Congress. The grant funds are leveraged by an additional $254,457 from non-federal sources, including state and university partners.  “We are excited to support these projects that will assist state agencies, communities and others in making challenging decisions. These efforts will have a positive economic impact on Michigan’s coastal areas,” said Jim Diana, Michigan Sea Grant Director.
 
The following new projects have been funded:

• Helping Coastal Communities Evaluate Wind Energy Options: Soji Adelaja, Michigan State University – $140,000. Researchers will work with coastal communities to assess the consequences of wind energy development and evaluate policy options, in advance of development proposals. Focus areas include Baraga, Marquette, Houghton and Keweenaw areas in the Upper Peninsula, as well as Presque Isle and Bay County in the Lower Peninsula.
• Evaluating Potential Wind Energy Conflicts in Coastal West Michigan: Erick Nordman, Grand Valley State University –$130,513. Project investigators will explore potential conflicts that could arise if wind power facilities were developed in coastal, tourism-dependent areas of Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan counties.
• Restoring Natural Flows in the Clinton River: Donald Carpenter, Lawrence Tech University – $138,904. Researchers, community leaders and others will evaluate potential river regulation policies on water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and other aspects of the Clinton River. The overall goal is to promote a more comprehensive approach to the management of the Clinton River watershed.

(To learn more about the projects, visit: http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/research/current_projects.html)

With the help of Sea Grant’s extension educators and specialists from both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, researchers will incorporate feedback from decision-makers, including residents, local leaders, other research teams, county and state officials and economic development groups. All research projects are aligned with priority issues identified by Michigan Sea Grant and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant Program.

3) OH Sea Grant - Lake Erie Model
A new model of Lake Erie being developed by Ohio Sea Grant researcher Dr. Ethan Kubatko, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science at Ohio State University, may make it possible to one day predict water levels, water velocities, and other physical changes in the lake with greater accuracy. 

Previous computer-based models used a structured grid made of equally sized squares that were so large—5 kilometers, or approximately the size of 55 football fields—they simply couldn’t accurately report shoreline details. Kubatko’s finite element grid employs a series of triangles that can vary in shape and size, effectively hugging the coast. Having higher resolution triangles as small as half a football field at the shore and larger ones in the deep water allows for more exact results.

“As you approach the coast, you start to encounter things like bays, inlets, man-made channels, and small tributaries, the geometry of which simply can’t be represented using elements that are as big as kilometers,” Kubatko explains. “Smaller triangles also allow us to report more detailed flow patterns near the shore. Those currents are different than the middle of the lake, where the water flows more freely.”

Kubatko started with the shoreline data and the topography of the lake bottom, each presented as a series of dots that must be connected by hand before the grid is then laid horizontally over the surface. Each corner of a grid triangle has a depth value attached to it, and the computer estimates the values of all the points in the middle and the way water behaves, whether it’s sloshing back and forth or raising and lowering.

The resulting map is a colorful illustration of Lake Erie, but there is still more work to be done. The next step is to take existing data from a small part of the lake, likely the Maumee Bay, and perform simulations to verify that the model is accurate. Such “reality checks” will allow Kubatko to compare data points and make adjustments if necessary, which should ultimately lead to a well-honed representation.

“The mapping of the lake is really the first component we need to predict not only large-scale water circulation patterns, but also to perform smaller, region-scale studies or even track the flow of pollutants in Lake Erie,” Kubatko says.

Duluth — with its steep slope, heavy clay soils and many streams flowing into Lake Superior — has problems with stormwater runoff. Everyone thinks about sanitary sewer overflows, but excess water in the storm sewer system is causing problems for local streams, which often become excessively muddy after rainstorms.

Here’s what happens: neighborhood rooftops and driveways don’t allow water to soak into the ground the way it does in a natural forest. Instead, water is channeled down storm drains directly into local streams, which really aren’t meant to hold that extra water. The banks erode, the water muddies, and fish and other aquatic species struggle. Over 1,000 gallons can run off an average house roof during a one-inch rainstorm.

To help scientists and the rest of us understand and manage this problem better, research is underway in a Duluth Lakeside neighborhood to define what a homeowner can do to measurably reduce the peak of the flow leaving their property after a storm.

Last year, measurements of stormwater flowing from three Duluth streets were taken. This week crews are busy installing and constructing stormwater diversions on one of the streets—ditches, rain gardens, rain barrels, infiltration trenches, and lawn aeration—to find out how well these efforts work to slow the water flow to Amity Creek. The data will be compared to control neighborhoods where no stormwater protection measures were taken.

The project is a collaborative effort of the City of Duluth and UMD’s Natural Resources Research Institute and Minnesota Sea Grant, with assistance from the South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District, Barr Engineering, the Minnesota Conservation Corps, the Regional Stormwater Protection Team, and volunteers. Funding is from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A local resident found four zebra mussels while snorkeling in Pike Lake near Duluth last week, and both Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnesota Sea Grant biologists have now confirmed the discovery. Doug Jensen with Minnesota Sea Grant said the varied sizes of the mussels indicate they have been present in the lake for at least two years.

Native to Eastern Europe and Western Russia, zebra mussels were first discovered in Minnesota in 1989 in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. They subsequently spread to inland lakes including Mille Lacs, Prior, Le Homme Dieu, and to portions of the Mississippi, St. Croix, and Zumbro rivers.

The discovery of zebra mussels in Pike Lake is not surprising due to the location near Lake Superior where they have been present for 20 years. The infestation is disappointing because the DNR and the local Pike Lake Association have co-sponsored DNR watercraft inspectors at the public water access for several years.

"Zebra mussels in Pike Lake and Lake Superior pose risks for other waters in northeast Minnesota," said Jay Rendall, DNR’s invasive species prevention coordinator. "Boaters and anglers will need to be extra careful to avoid spreading zebra mussels to nearby waters."

To help stop aquatic hitchhikers like zebra mussels, boaters can take a few simple precautions:

• Inspect and remove all visible aquatic plants, animals and mud from boats, trailers and equipment, such as anchors, before leaving a water access.
• Inspect and remove all visible aquatic plants, animals or mud from docks, boat lifts and swim rafts before transporting to another water.
• Drain all water from boats – including live wells, bilges and bait buckets – before leaving a water access.
• Spray or rinse boats with high pressure and/or hot water, or let them dry thoroughly for five days before transporting to another water.

DNR will designate the lake an infested water and post signs to notify those using the public water access. Designation will make transport of water and harvest of bait from the lake prohibited. DNR increases inspections, enforcement and education around infested waters.

Under Minnesota law, it is illegal to transport aquatic plants, zebra mussels and other prohibited species. Violators could face fines up to $500.

The site provides Ohio’s tourism industry and communities interested in new tourism endeavors with a localized, online resource center for information on a wide range of topics. Those topics include: starting a new tourism business/event; taking advantage of collaborative marketing opportunities; identifying emerging trends and using research data; connecting with local and state tourism entities; and creating new products to attract today’s visitor interested in culinary tourism, nature-based tourism; and more.

The Ohio Tourism Toolbox is made possible through funding from OSU Extension's Community Development, the Ohio Department of Development Tourism Division and OSU CARES, an initiative of OSU Extension and The Ohio State University to expand faculty, staff and student partnerships with communities throughout Ohio.  

• From the Helm: Beth Hinchey-Malloy
• Education Calendar
• GLEAMS News
• NMEA Happenings
• GLEAMS Election
  
• Lake Erie Literacy!
• GLEAMS Minigrant supports Lake Superior Youth Symposium
• COSEE Great Lakes News
• School for Scientists
• Award for COSEE Director
• Summer Events
• COSEE Collaborative Workshop
• Lake Superior Teachable Moments
• Fresh and Salt Curriculum
• Opportunities
• COSEE O'LAKERS funds
• Science Activities for Ocean Literacy
• Lake Erie Shores & Islands
• Wisconsin's Wetland Gems
• Bring Back the Salmon - Lake Ontario
• Great Lakes News
• Follow America’s Byway to the 50th Anniversary Celebration for Seaway
• Great news from Congress!
• Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
• Great Lakes Shipping down
• Those Lake Huron sinkholes again!
• Marine News
• Coral loss in the Caribbean
• No Action -- Twice the Warming
• UCS launches new book
• Environment Report: Jellies taking over ocean?
• Ocean Rescue -- NY Times Editorial
• Resources for Teaching: Great Lakes
• Google Great Lakes
• New movie: Waterlife
• Activity: Make a 'Zine!
• Resources for Teaching: Marine
• Year of Science "Fun Zone"
• AUSMEPA
• COOL Classroom
• Whale song lessons
• Coastal Climate Adaptation
• Oceans, Weather, and Climate

• New Director for Michigan Sea Grant
• Taking the Helm of upwellings
• Transitioning from Great Lakes to Transportation
• Exchanging the Old for the New – Kind Of
• A Few of Our Favorite Things... Beaches
• Growing Fish in Michigan - Aquaculture Could be Boon for the State
• Shipwrecks and Boblo and Fish, Oh My!
• Michigan Clean Marina Program Continues to Grow
• Great Lakes Commission Fellowship Begins
• Knauss Fellows Named
• Featured Website: CoastWatch
• Featured Products
  
• Gangsters or Greenery?
• Free Learning Resources - Fisheries Learning on the Web (FLOW)
  
• Zebra Mussel Tatoos
  

• IISG Fosters Community Stewardship through University Students
• Sea Grant AIS Website Selected for Smithsonian Kiosk
• Would you please pass the Asian Carp?
• Sea Grant Foster New Aquaculture Markets in Ghana, Kenya
• Knauss Fellows Find Their Future in Washington
• IISG Welcomes New Research Coordinator
• New Brazilian elodea and Hydrilla WATCH Card 

• Creating Sustainable Fisheries (11:15) Aired 6/24/09
• Genetically Engineered Salmon (9:57) Aired 6/17/09
• Climate Change and Minnesota (8:42) Aired 6/10/09
• Rusting Away (10:39) Aired 6/3/09
• Ancient Climate, Ancient Lakes (10:22) Aired 5/27/09
• After the Flood: Water Quality (10:31) Aired 5/20/09
• Carbon Cycle Conundrum (9:40) Aired 5/13/09
• VHS Virus and Lake Superior (10:06) Aired 5/6/09
• Great Lakes Shipping (9:50) Aired 4/29/09
• Lake Superior's Floor (8:41) Aired 4/22/09
• Creatures that Fish Crunch On (8:26) Aired 4/15/09
• Robo-researching Lake Superior Streams (8:49) Aired 4/8/09
• North Shore Bird Migration (9:40) Aired 4/1/09
• Beaches, Bacteria, and Your Health (9:33) Aired 3/25/09
• Beyond Fish: Education at the Aquarium (8:58) Aired 3/18/09
• Lake Superior: Astounding Facts and How They're Retrieved (8:13) Aired 3/11/09
• Invasive Waterflea Research (8:37) Aired 3/4/09
• What is Minnesota Sea Grant (7:10) Aired 2/25/09

Position Description for Associate Director of NYSG Extension Program / Assistant Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) – Coastal Programs

POSITION TITLE: ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR for Extension, New York Sea Grant Institute (NYSGI) & ASSISTANT DIRECTOR for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) – Coastal Programs (includes Marine and Great Lakes)

INSTITUTION/LOCATION: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

For more info, see http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=357

MI Sea Grant  - Changes in Editorial Staff
Joyce Daniels, editor with Michigan Sea Grant for 12 years, moved to another position at the University of Michigan within the Transportation Research Institute. Stephanie Ariganello, associate editor, has taken the helm of the newsletter upwellings and other editing duties.   Read more: http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/upwellings/issues/09june/index.html

MN Sea Grant - New Staff
John Bilotta, Water Resource Management and Policy Extension Educator. He works out of the University of Minnesota
Extension Regional Center in Farmington, MN. www.seagrant.umn.edu/about/john

NY Sea Grant - Nab the Aquatic Invader! Web Site Featured in Year of Science 2009

Great Lakes Coastal Youth Education - Press Release

Lucente has served as an Extension Educator in Community and Economic Development in the Ohio State’s Lucas County Extension Office since 2001. His main responsibilities include developing and conducting an outreach education program on community and economic development, as well as directing leadership and sustainable development education initiatives designed to improve the economic and environmental climate of the Lake Erie watershed.  

June 12, 2009

May 18, 2009

Contents
1) Events
- COSEE at IAGLR
- Sea Grant at IAGLR
- WI Sea Grant - 6th biennial State of Lake Michigan and 9th annual Great Lakes Beach Association conference
- MN Sea Grant - A View From the Lake 2009
- MN Sea Grant - Great Lakes Rip Current Conference
- IL-IN Sea Grant- Community Stewardship Fair Highlights Invasive Species Projects
- MI Sea Grant - Michigan VHS & Biosecurity Workshop
2) OH Sea Grant - Aquatic Visitors Center at Stone Lab
3) MI Sea Grant - Catching the Fishing History:  Lake Michigan – 1871 to 2006
4) MI Sea Grant - Recycling Shrink-wrap & More Clean Marinas

• AREND, K.1, HOOK, T.1, LUDSIN, S.A.2, RUCINSKI, D.K.3, BELETSKY, D.5, DEPINTO, J.V.3, SCAVIA, D.4, and SCHWAB, D.J.6, 1Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907; 2Aquatic Ecology Lab, Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43212; 3LimnoTech, 501 Avis Dr., Ann Arbor, MI, 48108; 4School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Michigan Sea Grant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109; 5CILER - School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Michigan, 4840 S. State Rd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48108; 6NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, 4840 S. State Rd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48108. Comparing Effects of Hypolimnetic Hypoxia on Yellow Perch and Rainbow Smelt Habitat Suitability in Central Lake Erie. Recent increases in the extent and duration of hypoxia in Lake Erie’s central basin potentially threaten the production of economically and ecologically valuable fish species, such as yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax). We used limnological hindcasts (1987-2005) to evaluate the negative effects of hypoxic conditions on yellow perch and rainbow smelt habitat quality. We generated spatio-temporally explicit estimates of bioenergetic growth rate potential (GRP) to identify inter-annual variability in the quality of yellow perch and rainbow smelt habitat. We expected hypoxia to have a greater negative impact on habitat quality for rainbow smelt compared to yellow perch due to species-specific differences in oxygen and temperature tolerances. Indeed, yellow perch demonstrate positive GRP values across a broader range of depths than rainbow smelt, which are less tolerant of warm, epilimnetic water temperatures and low, hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen levels. To assess whether hypoxia appears to have any population-level effects on recruitment of both species, we related annual indices of habitat quality to fisheries independent estimates of year-class strength and recruitment to the fishery. Keywords: Bioenergetics, Hypoxia, Lake Erie, Rainbow smelt, Yellow perch.
• BRAIG, E.C. and REUTTER, J.M., Ohio Sea Grant College Program, 1314 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH, 43212. F. T. Stone Laboratory, The Ohio State University. Stone Laboratory, Ohio's Lake Erie Laboratory since 1895, is the oldest freshwater biological field station in the country and part of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program at The Ohio State University. Each summer approximately 25 college courses are taught at the Laboratory. Courses are offered at three levels: one-week introductory courses, one-week courses for teachers, and 5-week courses for upper level undergraduate and graduate students. Since 1990, students in these courses have come from 104 different colleges and universities and 371 high schools (superior high school students are allowed to participate in the introductory courses and receive college credit while they are still in high school). During the spring and the fall the Laboratory offers field trips, workshops and conferences for grades 4 through adults with about 6,000 participants annually. Research goes on year-round with 20-30 projects addressing issues such as the dead zone in Lake Erie, harmful algal blooms, zebra mussels, water pollution and cleanup, and many projects to enhance the economic value of Lake Erie. The Laboratory is supported from a variety of sources including 16 endowments and the Friends of Stone Laboratory, and annually awards approximately 40 scholarships and 10 endowment-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Keywords: Lake Erie, Environmental education, Biological field stations.
• BRAIG, E.C.1, GABRIEL, T.A.1, APPLEGATE, J.2, and DORMAN, L.3, 1Ohio Sea Grant College Program, Columbus, OH; 2US Fish & Wildlife Service, Reynoldsburg, OH; 3ODADivision of Animal Industry, Reynoldsburg, OH. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in Ohio: a Report on Inland Monitoring. VHS is a fish disease that caused substantial kills in Ohio's Lake Erie waters in 2006 as well as elsewhere in the Great Lakes region. Subsequently, the USDA-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service restricted live interstate transport of susceptible fishes. In response, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) restricted live intrastate transport of those fishes inland from the waters of Lake Erie and initiated a monitoring effort to detect inland progression of the virus. Consulting with the ODNR-Division of Wildlife, ODA selected 22 high-risk sites spanning Ohio's seven major non-Lake Erie US Geologic Survey hydrologic unit codes. USDA sample protocols require the collection of 170 susceptible fish per site at water temperatures of 2-20° C to detect virus presence with 95% confidence. Ohio Sea Grant collaborated with the US Fish & Wildlife Service to collect the required specimens by electrofishing in autumn 2007 and spring 2008. Samples were delivered for cell culture and VHS testing by the ODA-Division of Animal Industry. All samples tested negative for the disease. We do not expect VHS to have substantial long-term impacts on large, wild fish populations. The disease is potentially more problematic to smaller, human-made impoundments and culture operations, especially where fish are crowded and/or stressed. Keywords: Reservoirs, Fish diseases, Monitoring.
• CABRERA, S.C.1, BOEHME, S.E.2, HINCHEY MALLOY, E.K.2, ADAMS, J.M.2, and SMITH, E.R.3, 1Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, 77 West Jackson Blvd. G-17J, Chicago, IL, 60604; 2Illinois Indiana Sea Grant, 77 West Jackson Blvd. G-17J, Chicago, IL, 60604; 3U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office, 77 West Jackson Blvd. G-17J, Chicago, IL, 60604. Disposal of Unwanted Medicines: A Resource for Action in your Community. Pharmaceuticals are produced in increasing volumes every year. With this growth comes concern regarding the environmental fate of these compounds. Recent studies identified pharmaceuticals in fresh and marine waters nationwide, as well as several bioactive compounds that are potentially harmful to aquatic organisms, even in small quantities. Improper medicine disposal poses poisoning risks to children, the elderly and pets and can lead to drug/identity theft. Unused medicines may accumulate in homes, be flushed, placed in the trash, or given to others; all having significant disadvantages. One approach for decreasing the amount of unwanted medicines reaching the environment is through collection programs that ensure safer methods of disposal. We highlight the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant toolkit “Disposal of Unwanted Medicines: A Resource for Action in Your Community.” The toolkit focuses on collection events for the public as a partial solution to the problem. The toolkit provides: case studies, sample educational materials, advice for running a collection, and information on the science behind the issue including a bibliography of news stories and scientific articles. Since it has been utilized widely, several examples from EPA’s 1 million pill Earth Day Challenge will be highlighted. Keywords: Outreach, Pharmaceuticals, Pollution prevention.
• CULLER, B.M.1, HUNTLEY, M.2, ELMER, H.3, RIDDLE, C.M.4, JENTES BANICKI, J.2, LICHTKOPPLER, F.2, VAN ZOEST, P.3, and MANZO, L.2, 1ODNR Office of Coastal Management, 105 W. Shoreline Drive, Sandusky, OH, 44870, US; 2Ohio Sea Grant College Program, 1314 Kinnear Road, Area 100, Columbus, OH, 43212-1156, US; 3ODNR Old Woman Creek NERR, 2514 Cleveland Road East, Huron, OH, 44839, US; 4Ohio Lake Erie Commission, One Maritime Plaza, 4th Floor, Toledo, OH, 43604, US. Lake Erie Literacy Principles: How PIs Can Incorporate Literacy Principles and Outreach Components to Enhance Research Proposals. This presentation will provide an overview of the eight Lake Erie Literacy Principles and the fundamental concepts addressed within them. Adapted from NOAA's Ocean Literacy framework, the Lake Erie Literacy Principles have been regionalized to increase their relevance to local citizens. Ohio's NOAA-funded partners and the Lake Erie Commission are in the process of adopting Principles as a guide to the knowledge necessary to be a Lake Erie literate citizen, one who can communicate about the Lake and can make informed decisions regarding the Lake and its resources. Many funding agencies require scientists to add education and outreach components into their research proposals, yet scientists often struggle when explaining the broader impact of their work on constituents in their regions. The purpose of sharing these Principles is to assist scientists in incorporating Lake Erie education and outreach into their grants and to suggest potential partners and activities to boost their grant-seeking success. Referencing Lake Erie Literacy Principles allows funding sources to see where specific scientific research fits into the wider spectrum of educating the public about Lake Erie issues. Keywords: Coastal ecosystems, Education, Lake Erie.
  
• CULLER, B.M.1, HUNTLEY, M.2, ELMER, H.3, RIDDLE, C.M.4, JENTES BANICKI, J.2, LICHTKOPPLER, F.2, VAN ZOEST, P.3, and MANZO, L.2, 1ODNR Office of Coastal Management, 105 W. Shoreline Drive, Sandusky, OH, 44870, US; 2Ohio Sea Grant College Program, 1314 Kinnear Road, Area 100, Columbus, OH, 43212-1156, US; 3ODNR Old Woman Creek NERR, 2514 Cleveland Road East, Huron, OH, 44839, US; 4Ohio Lake Erie Commission, One Maritime Plaza, 4th Floor, Toledo, OH, 43604. From the Ocean to the Lake: Introducing the Lake Erie Literacy Principles.  The Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts were published i2006. Sponsored by NOAA, COSEE, NMEA and the National Geographic Society, theyrepresent the knowledge understood by an ocean-literate citizen. While the Great Lakes are an integral part of Earth's one ocean, the freshwater nature of the lakes makes them chemically, geologically and biologically unique from their saltwater counterparts. Education/outreach/extension personnel in Ohio have found that residents in the Lake Erie region sometimes find it difficult to grasp the true meaning of the Ocean Literacy Principles because of the differences in freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. Therefore, the Lake Erie Commission and various NOAA-funded agencies in Ohio collaborated to adapt the Ocean Literacy Principles to make them more tangible and relevant to citizens/decision makers living in the Lake Erie watershed. This poster will familiarize researchers with the Lake Erie Literacy Principles framework. The Principles and their Fundamental Concepts are intended to be used by scientists in two ways: (1) to help improve funding opportunities by strengthening the education/outreach component of grants, and (2) to give researchers an alternative perspective on how their work might fit into the broad complexity of understanding the Lake Erie ecosystem. Keywords: Education, Coastal ecosystems, Lake Erie.
• DOMSKE, H.M., New York Sea Grant - Cornell University, 228 Jarvis Hall, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260-4400. COSEE – GL: Shipboard Science on the USEPA R/V Peter Wise Lake Guardian. The Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence - COSEE GL (Funded by NSF and NOAA) has teamed up with the USEPA and its research vessel, the R/V Peter Wise Lake Guardian, to provide a unique learning experience for teachers who infuse Great Lakes topics into their classrooms. This presentation will provide an overview of the 2008 summer cruise that brought 16 teachers from New York, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota; 10 Scientists and 4 Sea Grant Educators together for a week-long voyage on the waters of Lake Ontario. This shipboard science experience helped to facilitate collaboration between scientists and educators, as well as enhancing teacher capabilities in science. Learn about this exciting educational opportunity from one of the Sea Grant educators who took part in this voyage and see how you can get involved in upcoming sessions on the other Great Lakes. Keywords: Environmental education, Lake Ontario, Outreach.
• DOMSKE, H.M.1 and EDWARDS, W.J.2, 1New York Sea Grant, 228 Jarvis Hall - SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260; 2Niagara University, Lewiston, NY, 14109. Making the Most out of a Classroom Visit. Being invited to visit a middle or high school classroom may create anxiety for Great Lakes researchers who are accustomed to dealing with undergraduate and graduate students on a daily basis. Although the classroom visit can be a challenge for a researcher, it can be a memorable experience for young students who may not have had the chance to interact with a working scientist. This presentation will provide techniques and suggestions for scientists who are invited into classrooms, so their visit can be worthwhile and enjoyable for the students and researcher as well. Classroom visits can also help researchers hone their skills of sharing technical information with non-technical audiences. Interactions with younger students can spark a real interest in learning more about scientific fields. The session will provide tips to prepare researchers for a visit with younger, energetic students. Keywords: Education, Outreach, Environmental education.
• HALLESY, T.E.2 and GOETTEL, R.G.2, 1University of Illinois, IL-IN Sea Grant Program, 336 NSRC, MC-635, 1101 W. Peabody, Urbana, IL, 61801; 2University of Illinois, IL-IN Sea Grant Program, 390 NSRC, MC-635, 1101 W. Peabody, Urbana, IL, 61801. Lake Michigan Exploration Workshop--Synthesizing Research for Classroom Application. COSEE Great Lakes, in partnership with the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, conducted the Lake Michigan Exploration Workshop in Aug. 2008 to immerse 4th-10th grade teachers in the science of this important Great Lake. Participants gained practical experience in the field, worked with researchers, examined curricula, and explored classroom activities relating to the Great Lakes and ocean resources.Topics included use of the Lake Michigan waterfront; ecosystems and habitats; contaminants in GL organisms; beach morphology/consequences of erosion and deposition; and alteration of benthic communities.This workshop fostered two-way dialogue between scientists and educators who teach biology, environmental science, and math. Through this interaction, participants developed skills in water quality monitoring, data acquisition & analysis, and concept mapping. This workshop has built lasting relationships and made a strong impression on both scientists and teachers. Workshop evaluation indicated the value of this professional development —one researcher noted, “As scientists, we usually revolve around our own little research projects and forget how important it is to get what we know out to the general public, and even more importantly, to educators.” This presentation will also share the many benefits expressed by teachers. Keywords: Education, Ecosystems, Lake Michigan.
• HALLESY, T.E., University of Illinois, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, 1101 W Peabody Dr., 336 NSRC, MC-635, Urbana, IL, 61801. Community Stewardship through Environmental Education—A Model Project. This session will address a new University of Illinois Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences service-learning course that engages students in relevant and meaningful service and extended learning outside the classroom and into local community schools. In addition to enhancing academic understanding about issues related to Great Lakes aquatic invasive species, students engage in discussions with researchers and learn how to value diversity in underserved populations; how to affect change; and how to develop leadership and communication capacities to inspire environmental action in others to prevent spread of aquatic invaders. The course was sponsored by the Provost’s Initiative for Teaching Advancement, University of Illinois Extension, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and COSEE Great Lakes. “Servicelearning is recognized for its benefits to student learning and development.” (Astin & Sax, 1998). Students’ final portfolios indicated the deep understandings they gained from their servicelearning experience and how the skills and knowledge from the course would benefit them in their future endeavors. The presenter will provide concrete examples of what made this course so valuable to the university students and instructors, as well as the benefits to partnering school teachers and students and community organizations. Keywords: Invasive species, Ecosystems, Education.
• HART, D.A.1 and KANIA, P.A.2, 1Univ. of Wisconsin Sea Grant, Madison, WI, 53706; 2Perkins High School, Sandusky, OH. GEE: A Partnership for Google Earth in Education. In Summer 2008, teachers and nonformal educators from Ohio and Wisconsin joined a technology-based curriculum development and evaluation class offered at Stone Lab. GIS specialist David Hart and his high school son Noah demonstrated for the teachers the possibilities that Google Earth offers for enhancing curriculum. Over the course of the week, teachers selected Great Lakes regional topics, many from traditional formats, and explored how to convert them to interactive Google Earth applications. Topics included erosion on Lake Erie, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, water quality in Old Woman Creek, songbird migration, a virtual field trip along the Olentangy River, and comparison of fresh and salt water fish. In this session, we’ll explain how the partnership between scientist and teachers was developed, and Pat Kania, one of the teachers in the class, will demonstrate how he has built upon the partnership. His curriculum website is becoming a source for posting the new applications. Keywords: Education, GIS, Great Lakes basin.
• HINCHEY MALLOY, E.K.1, MILLER, B.K.2, BOEHME, S.E.3, GOETTEL, R.G.2, MERRIFIELD, L.2, ADAMS, J.M.1, and WALTERS, H.4, 1Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, Purdue University, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, IL, 60604; 2Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, 1101 West Peabody Drive, MC635, Urbana, IL, 61801; 3Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, University of Illinois, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, IL, 60604; 4Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, OH, 44805. Climbing the Evaluation Pyramid: Techniques used by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant to evaluate Outreach Programs. In light of a tightening economy, fewer funding opportunities, and shrinking budgets for governmental services, it is imperative to demonstrate that the impact from a program effort is greater than its cost. The Sea Grant College program uses the Bennett concept of “Hierarchy of Effectiveness” indicators to plan and evaluate extension programs to increase their effectiveness. Basically, the concept outlines different levels of performance indicators. As programs mature, the types of results and impacts made are expected to move up a hierarchical pyramid. Shortterm outcomes will be toward the bottom, mid-term outcomes will usually be toward the middle, and long-term outcomes will most likely be toward the top of the pyramid programs should strive to design programs to achieve higher level impacts. This talk will provide examples of Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Extension programs that fit different categories in the hierarchy of performance indicators, and will also discuss the evaluation instrument and methods we used at each level and the impacts that resulted. Examples to be highlighted include a COSEE Great Lakes week-long workshop, Local Decisionmaker, unwanted medicine take-back programs, Planning with Power, and Great Lakes Legacy Act sediment clean-up projects. Keywords: Education, Outreach, Evaluation.
  
• HINCHEY MALLOY, E.K. and ADAMS, J.M., Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, Purdue University, 77 W. Jackson Blvd. G-17J, Chicago, IL, 60604. Bringing the Great Lakes into the Classroom: Examples of COSEE-inspired Science Learning Environments. The COSEE Great Lakes Shipboard and Shoreline Workshops provide unique opportunities for educators and scientists to spend a week at sea together, working side-by-side as the R/V Lake Guardian traverses the Great Lakes. In this session, a team of teachers and scientists will present examples of science lessons that originated from our involvement in the COSEE workshops and have been used in high school classrooms and science centers. Examples include The Incredible Shrinking Cup Lab, creation of a water quality monitoring after-school program, an R/V Lake Guardian blog site, and more! Keywords: Education, COSEE, R/V Lake Guardian.
• JOSEPH, S.T., 4840 South State Street, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108. Great Lakes and Human Health: Communicating Water Quality. Communicating human health risks to educate and raise awareness while minimizing public misinformation and hysteria requires a multi-faceted approach. Methods and techniques for engaging the local environmental managers/ decision makers, the public and media on water quality issues will be presented. Using case studies from stakeholder training workshops and public meetings, Michigan Sea Grant and the NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health will feature scientific communication strategies and techniques that have worked and have not worked, successes and failures to engage stakeholders and scientists, and why public outreach and communication are vital components of scientific research. Keywords: Outreach, Water quality.
• KLUMP, J.V., Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, 53204. The Great Lakes WATER Institute of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Great Lakes WATER (Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research) Institute has its origins in the establishment of the Center for Great Lakes Studies in 1966. The institution was reorganized in 1998 as the WATER Institute. Located on Milwaukee’s inner harbor, the Institute has operated the research vessel Neeskay year round on the lakes since 1969. Today the Institute serves as home for University research scientists and faculty, the Great Lakes Aquaculture Center, the Great Lakes office of the NOAA National Undersea Research Center, the Lake Michigan Fisheries Management Unit of the Wisconsin DNR, an Advisory Services office of the Wisconsin Sea Grant program, the USDA Agriculture Research Services Great Lakes aquaculture program, and the home port for the US EPA research vessel Lake Guardian. In 2008, the WATER Institute and the UWMilwaukee received authorization, pending legislative approval expected in 2009, to form the nation’s first graduate School of Freshwater Sciences, offering doctoral and masters degrees in freshwater science and engineering. Our mission is to advance fundamental and strategic science that will inform policy, improve management, and promote the health of the Great Lakes and freshwater systems worldwide. Keywords: Lake Michigan, Education, Ecosystems.
• KOEHLER, N.1, STEWART, S.1, and SIEGGREEN, D.2, 1Michigan Sea Grant, 21885 Dunham Road, Suite 12, Clinton Township, MI, 48036; 2Hillside Middle School, 775 North Center, Northville, MI, 48167. Teaching with the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS). Science education is changing. Educators are striving to teach science the way science is done, emphasizing inquiry. Analyzing and communicating data from local research helps students to learn science process and place concepts into a real-world context. Michigan Sea Grant/Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE Great Lakes) is developing educational materials to facilitate the use of Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) data as tools for teaching about the Great Lakes and the oceans. GLOS is an effort dedicated to providing access to real-time and historic data on the hydrology, biology, chemistry, geology and cultural resources of the Great Lakes, its interconnecting waterways and the St. Lawrence River. Components of the systems include buoys, satellite sensors, ship observations and other platforms. GLOS is a regional node of the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) initiative. Teaching with GLOS materials target grades 4-10. Lessons are geared for middle school students, but include modifications for upper elementary & high school. Topics include Great Lakes seasonal cycles, productivity mechanisms, and weather and climate in the Great Lakes region. This session will provide an overview of Teaching with GLOS materials and will demonstrate how research data can be adapted for use in the classroom. Keywords: Outreach, Education.
• LIUKKONEN, B.1, MEYER, N.2, and SEIDEL, W.3, 1MN Sea Grant, 173 McNeal Hall/1985 Buford Ave, St. Paul, MN, 55108; 2U of MN Extension, Cloquet Regional Center, 179 University Road, Cloquet, MN, 55720; 3Lake County Extension, 601 3rd Ave, Two Harbors, MN, 55616. Impacts of a Conservation Field Day for Youth. Many communities around Lake Superior sponsor conservation field days for elementary students. To assess the educational effectiveness and impacts of field days, we conducted a case study in Lake County, MN. All county 6th graders attend a one-day event to learn about natural resources of their region. We surveyed all county 7th, 9th, and 11th graders (n=352) about whatthey learned at the field day, and asked if they perceived doing anything differently as a result of  the event. Most students remembered the event (e.g., 81% of 11th graders in Silver Bay), and many were able to recollect learning something new. 25% percent said they did something different in their lives after attending the field day. Almost all (96%) said they continue that behavior change. Students indicated participating in the event influenced their thoughts about college (46%) or career (19%). We also held focus groups with students, teachers and presenters. Students reliably described behavior changes and details about what they learned, and underscored the importance of the sense of place in increasing their awareness about the value of natural and cultural resources. Teachers integrate the field day into their curriculum. Presenters said it helps them accomplish the goals of their profession, achieve county priorities, and introduce students to career Keywords: Education, Outreach, Lake Superior.
• LUCENTE, J.E. and KELCH, D.O., One Government Center, Suite 550, Toledo, OH, 43604. Utilizing Shipwrecks, Coastal Tourism and Maritime Heritage as an Economic Development and Water Resource Education and Outreach Tool. Ohio Sea Grant created a comprehensive website and promotional guide designed to help Ohio residents and visitors locate and learn about the many historical, cultural and recreational shipwrecks in Ohio’s Lake Erie waters, and to promote coastal tourism and business development. Both products will not only effectively serve to promote cultural and coastal tourism as tools to expand Lake Erie tourism revenues, but will also be valuable assets in the conservation and protection of important shipwreck sites. Both the guide and the website highlight known, popular shipwrecks in four separate sectors of Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline: The Erie Islands Trailway, Vermilion-Lorain Trailway, Cleveland Trailway and Fairport Harbor Trailway. Promoting Ohio’s rich maritime heritage established partnerships with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management and eight coastal County Convention and Visitor Bureau’s in developing and implementing plans to promote cultural and coastal tourism. In addition, Lake Erie’s Coastal Ohio Program and the Lake Erie Circle Tour benefits through the establishment of linkages to the four designated underwater trailways. Keywords: Conservation, Shipwrecks, Public education.
• MCKINNEY, T., Michigan Sea Grant, Ann Arbor, MI, US. Strategies for Successfully Targeting and Collaborating with Underrepresented Groups. This session will guide research scientists, professors and outreach educators through strategies and methods to successfully target and collaborate with traditionally underrepresented groups by actively engaging K-12 teachers and students, undergraduate and graduate student populations from urban, rural and tribal communities and diverse backgrounds (i.e. gender, ethnic and cultural). The key components are: (1) increasing participation in science by underrepresented populations; (2) identifying minority educational organizations and associations with high minority participation; (3) providing recommendations for recruitment of underrepresented populations; and (4) targeting methods that help break down the invisible barriers to developing meaningful collaborations. In summary, this session will provide participants with opportunities for discussion; pose challenging questions and emerging solutions for collaborating with underrepresented populations in science. 
• READ, J.G.1, CHILD, M.2, and MANNY, B.M.3, 1Michigan Sea Grant, 440 Church Street, Suite 4044, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109; 2Essex Region Conservation Authority, 360 Fairview Avenue West,, Suite 311, Essex, ON, N8M 1Y6; 3USGS Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48105. Managing Collaborations for Native Fishery Enhancement: Case Studies in the Binational Detroit River. Conceiving, planning, coordinating and funding fishery habitat enhancement projects, in particular spawning sites, in high velocity/volume rivers such as Great Lakes connecting channels is a very challenging process. In the Lake Huron to Lake Erie corridor – St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and Detroit River connecting channels – a multidisciplinary group of federal, state/ provincial, municipal, university and private agencies and organizations has come together to address the need for enhancing limited fishery habitat. Over the past six years this group has undertaken two such projects and identified additional opportunities in the corridor. This presentation will address funding strategies, “care and feeding of partnerships,” discuss motivations – why individuals/agencies participate, and how these complex projects are managed. We will use the Belle Isle Sturgeon Spawning Habitat Project and the Fighting Island Lake Sturgeon Project as our case studies. Keywords: Fish, Habitats, Management.
  
• READ, J.G., Michigan Sea Grant, 440 Church Street, Suite 4044, Ann Arbor, MI, 48105, US. Spawning Habitat for our Key Native Fish. Much of the spawning habitat for our key native fish has either been destroyed or contaminated in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor – St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and Detroit River (HEC). In the HEC, a multidisciplinary group of federal, state/ provincial, local, university and private agencies and organizations has come together to address the need for enhancing limited spawning habitat. Over the past six years this group has undertaken two such projects and identified additional opportunities in the corridor. This presentation will discuss restoring fish spawning habitat and the steps that scientists go through to select locations, designa reef/nursery site and construction considerations that are made. Two examples, the Belle Isle Sturgeon Spawning Habitat Project and the Fighting Island Lake Sturgeon Project will be case studies.
• REUTTER, J.M.1, FORTNER, R.W.2, and BILLS, T.3, 1Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, 100 Research Ctr., 1314 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH, 43212; 2COSEE Great Lakes, 113 Paula Circle, Oak Island, NC, 28465; 3Pierce Middle School, 5145 Hatchery Road, Waterford, MI, 48329. What is Pedagogy and Why Should Scientists Care? (Pedagogy 101). Results of COSEE’s scientist survey at IAGLR indicated that many scientists were not familiar with the constructivist approach to teaching and learning, and had only basic understanding of how classrooms interpret the terms “hands-on” instruction, “cooperative learning,” and “inquiry.” This session addresses basic terminology used by science teachers to describe their professional methods, and offers insights into how people learn science. Many scientists believe that teachers will present more science if they are simply provided with science information, but this is not often the case. Knowledge of pedagogy [strategies, techniques, and approaches that teachers can use to facilitate learning; the science and art of teaching] can facilitate scientists’ outreach into classrooms and foster collaboration with teachers. The presentation offers a scientist’s perspective on the need for guidance on pedagogy, and an educator’s direction on how “pedagogical content knowledge” should influence the way scientists relate to K-12 audiences. Keywords: Education, Scientists, Pedagogy.
  
• SNYDER, F.L., Sea Grant Extension, Camp Perry, Bldg. 1, Port Clinton, OH, 43452. Potential Impacts of VHS Regulations on Great Lakes Fisheries. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) entered North America from Europe years ago as a systemic infection of salmon and trout. A strain of this rhabdovirus is believed to have mutated into a form infecting warm water fishes and now has been found in many Great Lakes fish species. VHS has been linked to die offs of freshwater drum, yellow perch, muskellunge round gobies and other species. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a draft order restricting the transportation of live fish on a list of 28 infected species among Great Lakes states and provinces, and has since made minor amendments to this order. Impacts of this order on Great Lakes fisheries have ranged from minor to severe. Aquaculture and commercial fish hauling interests in some instances were unable to market their products, and others faced time consuming and expensive testing protocols. Live bait markets lost several lucrative supply sources and were forced to seek alternate bait species not affected by the federal order. Sport anglers were restricted from transporting live fish, including certain bait species when crossing state or provincial boundaries. In-state boundaries have been established in some states to further restrict the transportation of affected species within those states. Keywords: Impacts, VHS, Fisheries.
• STUMPF, R.P.1, TOMLINSON, M.C.1, WYNNE, T.T.1, DYBLE BRESSIE, J.2, SCHWAB, D.J.2, BELETSKY, D.3, and JOSEPH, S.T.4, 1National Ocean Service, 1305 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD, 20910; 2Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, 4840 South State Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108; 3Cooperative Insitute for Limnology & Ecosystems Research, 4840 South State Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108; 4Michigan Sea Grant, 4840 South State Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108. A Forecast System for Cyanobacterial Blooms in Western Lake Erie. In 2008, an attempt was made to provide near-real time nowcasts and forecasts of a cyanobacterial bloom in western Lake Erie. Experimental bulletins were released to a sample of the local research and management communities in order to evaluate the usefulness and efficiency of such forecasts. The system employed a cyanobacterial detection algorithm using remotely sensed data from the MERIS sensor on the Envisat satellite. The imagery is available within 24-hours from the European Space Agency, and has a standard 1.2 km resolution (and an option for 300 m), with imagery collected every 2nd day. Once a bloom was detected from routine monitoring of the imagery, forecasts were possible. The location and concentration of suspected blooms were input into GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) along with physical forcing data in the form of forecasted currents from the Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System (GLCFS). These simulations make it possible to forecast the movement of a suspected bloom. We detected a potential bloom of M. aeruginosa in early- August 2008, and were able to direct field sampling to confirm the bloom. Forecasts were produced weekly until October, when the bloom disappeared from the satellite imagery. This forecast system will be run again as a demonstration in the summer of 2009. Keywords: Human health, Microcystis, Decision making.
• SWINEHART, C.Y.1 and FINNELL, E.H.1, 1Michigan Sea Grant, 334 Natural Resources Bldg., East Lansing, MI, 48824-1222; 2Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, 525 W. Allegan St., Lansing, MI, 48933. PILOTING A VOLUNTEER AIS MONITORING PROGRAM: Michigan’s Experience with Clean Boats, Clean Waters. In 2006 and 2007, Michigan Sea Grant piloted Clean Boats, Clean Waters, a volunteer AIS monitoring program which it adapted and streamlined from the original developed by Wisconsin Extension and Department of Natural Resources. This program trains volunteers to present aquatic invasive species (AIS) information to boaters at launch sites and to demonstrate the proper inspection and cleaning of recreational watercraft to prevent the introduction and spread of AIS to previously uninfested bodies of water. In its first two years, Michigan Sea Grant and Michigan Office of the Great Lakes representatives developed materials, conducted seven training workshops and facilitated the formation of several volunteer teams, which conducted the program in a variety of ways and reached thousands of boaters. Other organizations within and from outside the state have expressed interest in using the program as a model. This presentation will describe the program, its outcomes and lessons learned. Keywords: Education, Environmental education, Invasive species.
  
• STURTEVANT, R.A., NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species, 4840 South State Road, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108. Invasive Species Information Resources. The Great Lakes have a long history of aquatic nonindigenous species (ANS) introductions – both intentional and unintentional. As of 2007, over 180 nonindigenous species have been reported to have reproducing populations in the Great Lakes basin, i.e. lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, Ontario, and their connecting channels and water bodies within their respective drainages. This talk will provide an introduction to the numerous scientific and educational resources which are available for those seeking more information on these species. Keywords: Invasive species, Data storage and retrieval, Education
  

You are invited to participate in the 6th biennial State of Lake Michigan and 9th annual Great Lakes Beach Association conference on September 29 – October 1, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The joint conference brings together local officials, scientists, resource managers and interest groups to assess current conditions and progress toward improving the Lake and Great Lakes beaches.  The information presented is also used to revise the Lake Michigan Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) and to improve beach management and public health protection.

All interested persons are invited to submit one or more abstracts for consideration.  Both oral and poster presentations will require an abstract.  We encourage authors to submit abstracts for specific session topics but will consider general contributions. The deadline for abstract submittal is June 26, 2009.  Please refer to the conference web site www.aqua.wisc.edu/solm for abstract submittal and presentation instructions. Your abstract will be reviewed by the session chair and you will be notified of acceptance by July 15, 2009.

• Lake Michigan Food Webs, Invasive Species and Ballast Water Treatment
• Lake Michigan Fisheries, Fish Passage and VHS
• Botulism
• Nuisance and Harmful Algal Blooms
• Nutrient Management, TMDLs and Bacterial Source Tracking
• Watershed Management and Decision Support Tools
• Progress in Contaminated Sediment Clean-Up  and Lake Michigan Areas of Concern
• Climate Change, Water Levels and Great Lakes Compact Implementation
•  Beach Restoration and Stormwater Management
• Socio-Economic Benefits of Lake and Beach Restoration, Low Impact Development and Green Infrastructure
• Alternative Energies (The Great Lakes Wind Collaborative and Wisconsin Wind on the Water)
• Sustainable Ports, Marinas, and Working Waterfronts
• Lake Michigan Wetlands and Habitats
• Nearshore Monitoring, GLRRIN (Great Lakes Regional Research and Information Network), Remote Sensing and GLOS (Great Lakes Observing Systems)
• State of Beach Monitoring in the Great Lakes
• Beach Monitoring Databases and Data Reporting
• Pathogens and QMRA
• Rapid Assessment Methods and Predictive Models for Beach Management
• Coastal Processes and Impacts on Nearshore Water Quality
• Lake Michigan and Great Lakes Beach Outreach and Education

Presenters must register for the conference and will receive a discount on the conference registration fee. 

For more information please visit the conference web site www.aqua.wisc.edu/solm, or contact Victoria Harris, UW Sea Grant Institute, 920-465-2795, harrisv@uwgb.edu.

For only $20 (discount of $10 for groups of 4 or more), participants will experience aquatic science, discuss land use challenges, and enjoy a three-hour excursion on one of the world's largest lakes. Trips aboard the L.L. Smith, Jr. R/V are scheduled to depart from the following ports:

• Ashland, Wisconsin: June 14, 15
• Washburn, Wisconsin: June 16
• Bayfield, Wisconsin: June 20
• Grand Marais, Minnesota: June 24, 25
• Silver Bay, Minnesota: June 27
• Superior, Wisconsin: July 16, 17, 18
• Two Harbors, Minnesota: July 25, 26
• Duluth, Minnesota: July 30, 31, August 1

Support for this year’s program is provided by Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

MN Sea Grant - Great Lakes Rip Current Conference
June 4th, 2009 at the Lafayette Community Center in Duluth, Minnesota.   Sponsored by Minnesota Sea Grant and the National Weather Service office in Duluth

The 2009 Great Lakes Rip Current Conference will feature national experts on rip currents and hypothermia, discussing the mechanics of how, why, and where rip currents form in the Great Lakes, our ability to forecast rip current conditions, the effects of hypothermia and how cold water can affect rescues, and example programs from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota on educating beach users to recognize and escape from rip currents.

The conference is open to all; pre-registration is required; registration form and $10 fee for lunch must be received by June 1.  More information is available at: www.seagrant.umn.edu/rip. For more information, contact: Jesse Schomberg, MN Sea Grant at 218-726-6182 or jschombe@umn.edu or Dean Packingham, NWS Duluth Office at Dean.Packingham@noaa.gov

MN Sea Grant Lake Superior Coordinated Monitoring Workshop

Minnesota Sea Grant staff helped organize, document, and facilitate the Lake Superior Coordinated Monitoring Workshop held on April 29-30 at the Environmental Protection Agency in Duluth, Minnesota.  The workshop involved researchers and the working groups involved with the Lake Superior Lakewide Management Plan, which is administered by the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office and Environment Canada. Researchers conducting studies in the Lake Superior Basin offered advice and information that will play an important part in guiding the intensive monitoring effort scheduled to happen in the Basin in 2011.

April 15, 2009

Contents
1) Events
IL-IN Sea Grant - Learn Urban Fish Farming at Upcoming Workshop
OH Sea Grant - Stone Lab Plans Summer Tours
MN Sea Grant - Director of NOAA’s Integrated Oceans Observing Systems visits Duluth, Minnesota
MI Sea Grant - Workshops To Help Prevent Fish Diseases in Baitfish and Aquaculture Industries
2) Ohio Sea Grant - Call for Proposals for 2010-2012
3) GLSGN - Climate Website
4) OH Sea Grant - Clean Marinas Shrink-Wrap Recycling Program Underway
5) MN Sea Grant - Students Create Marketing Animation for Seaway Port Authority
6) NY Sea Grant - Students Needed as Salmon River, Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes Stewards
7) Publications
MI Sea Grant - Economics of Restoring Great Lakes Ecosystems
COSEE Great Lakes - Sweetwater Seascape
OH Sea Grant - Twine Line - Winter/Spring
MI Sea Grant - Current Coastal Initiatives
8) Staff News
OH Sea Grant - Receives University Outreach Award
___________________________________________

1) Events
IL-IN Sea Grant - Learn Urban Fish Farming at Upcoming Workshop

For more information, visit http://stonelab.osu.edu/tripsandtours/island-tours/.

Willis’s stay in the Twin Ports began with a “question-and-comment meeting” at the Mid-Continent EPA Lab with the academic and research community. The following day, Director Willis met with representative from the commercial maritime community (including the US Coast Guard, Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute, Great Ships Initiative, pilots, carriers, and shippers). Minnesota Sea Grant’s Dale Bergeron facilitated Willis’s visit. Other Minnesota Sea Grant staff participated.

The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) involves 11 regional systems providing data from US coasts (including the Great Lakes Observing System), and the Global Ocean Observing System.

MI Sea Grant - Workshops To Help Prevent Fish Diseases in Baitfish and Aquaculture Industries
Beginning May 2009 through June of 2010, the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center will support six workshops throughout the Great Lakes region to develop specific fish disease Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans.

Priority will be given to projects that address the National Strategic Plan's 4 priorities (www.seagrant.noaa.gov/focus) of hazard resilient coastal communities, healthy coastal ecosystems, safe sustainable seafood supply, and sustainable coastal development locally on Lake Erie, including projects that enhance the economic value of Lake Erie and projects that enable improved management of Lake Erie. Projects that can create jobs and enhance economic activity through improved practices, product creation, and specialized training are encouraged, along with human dimensions studies and proposals documenting the economic value of Lake Erie natural resources and the impact of cleaning up Lake Erie Areas of Concern. Priority will also be given to supporting at least one project at Old Woman Creek NERR focusing on healthy coastal ecosystems, which will be co-funded by Old Woman Creek and Sea Grant.

Preproposals are due Thursday, May 21, 2009.

For more information, go to www.ohioseagrant.osu.edu/research/forms.
PDF announcement is attached or found at www.ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/docs/projects/preproposal.pdf.

• From the Helm: Rosanne Fortner
• Great Lakes/Marine Education Calendar: Spring-Summer 2009
• GLEAMS News - Mini-grants awarded & NMEA on the Horizon
• COSEE Great Lakes News
• School for Scientists
• Great Lakes ALIVE!
• COSEE at NSTA
• New PI for COSEE Great Lakes
• Summer Events
  
• Opportunities
• Online Graduate Climate Change Course
• GIS Training for Teachers
• Teacher at Sea
• EstuaryLive Virtual Field Trips
• Earth Day Photo Contest
• Workshop Application Deadlines
• COSEE O'Lakers funds
• Great Lakes News
• Great Ships to keep out invasives
• Ballast Water Report
• Second Electric Barrier added
• Great Lakes Shipping is 'green'
• Great Lakes Compact gets its first test
• New IJC website
• Biddanda research on the web
• Marine News
• IOOS Bill becomes law
• Ocean debris
• Sea level rising faster than predicted
• Good news for right whales
• SeaWeb's Ocean Update
• Resources for Teaching Great Lakes
• Two new videos
  
• Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide
• Lake Michigan Circle Tour and Lighthouse Map
• Activity: I, Robot, Can Do That
• Resources for Teaching Marine
• New on the 'Sea Level from Space' site
• Toolkit for developing interactive, scientific, web-based learning activities
• Ocean Motion
• Take AIM at Climate Change
• Marine Mineral Studies
• Marine Debris Publication
• NOAA Online Education Resources for Teachers
• NOAA Jeopardy
• Interactive Sand Map
• Google Earth 5 with Google Ocean
• Ocean Gazing
• Online resource for ocean acidification
  

• Striped Invaders: Lake Erie's 20-Year Battle with Zebra Mussels
  
• Combining Politics and Partnerships
• Dredging Up the Polluted Past
• From the Discussion Board - Sediment Toxins
  
• New Research Projects
• Negative Result, Positive Outcome - Study Finds No Evidence of VHS in Ohio Fish
  
• Rounding Up the Evidence - Glyphosphate and Harmful Algal Blooms
  
• Stone Lab 2009 Summer Courses
• Student Spotlight
  
• FOSL

March 16, 2009

Contents
1) Events
- MN Sea Grant - International Symposium on Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Fish
- MN Sea Grant - Shipping Forum
- NY Sea Grant - RMS Titanic joins 2009 Great Lakes Underwater
- MI Sea Grant - Working Waterfronts in Michigan: Access to our Water Resources
- PA Sea Grant - Best Management Practices for Shoreline Professionals
- OH Sea Grant - Friends of Stone Lab Spring Work Weekend
- OH Sea Grant - Student Opportunities!
2) IL-IN Sea Grant - Sea Grant Invasive Species Website Selected for Smithsonian Kiosk
3) Publications, Web and other Media
- MN Sea Grant - The Sea Grant Files Debut on KUMD Radio
- NY Sea Grant - YouTube
- MN Sea Grant - New Fisheries Information On-line
- MN Sea Grant - Reprints
- MI Sea Grant - Preparing for Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region
- MI Sea Grant - Upwellings, February 2009 - http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/upwellings
- IL-IN Sea Grant - WATCH Card Features Two Invasive Plants
4) Staff News
- MI Sea Grant - New Director
- MN Sea Grant - Changes
- II-SG Aquaculture Specialist Honored for Leadership, Innovation
____________________________________________________________________


1) Events
MN Sea Grant - International Symposium on Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Fish
June 21-24, 2010, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/ais/biocontrol). Minnesota Sea Grant is leading the planning and organization of this symposium, which will bring together fisheries managers, industry representatives, and government regulators with experts in all facets of genetic biocontrol, to: 

• Review the status of genetic biocontrol technologies for aquatic invasive species and develop a research agenda;
• Develop a roadmap for risk assessment of genetic biocontrol of aquatic invasive species;
• Discuss stakeholder involvement in development and assessment;
• Examine the regulatory context for genetic biocontrol of invasive fishes and mussels; and
• Consider the economics of impacts of aquatic invasive species and of genetic biocontrol technologies.

• Noted shipwreck explorer Jim Kennard will make a trilogy presentation of “Deep Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario,” including a rare and recently discovered 200-year-old dagger-board schooner, and he will provide a short update and video on the discovery of the British war ship HMS Ontario that he and Dan Scoville located in Lake Ontario in May 2008.
• New York State Divers Association President James Sears will present “Two Tank Tips” for places to dive on two wrecks in close proximity.
• Janet Marsden of the Auburn Skin Divers Association will share interesting details about the underwater recovery work, teaching, special events, dive trips, invasive species removal and underwater clean-up projects of the club that is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2009.
• 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the USS Oneida, America’s first warship on the Great Lakes. Historian Gary Gibson will talk about the Civil War battles of sloop-of-war and what happened to her after the war.
• Coastal Tourism and Recreation Specialist Dave White of New York Sea Grant will present the latest updates on the New York State Underwater Blueway Trail and the Dive the Seaway Trail projects.

OH Sea Grant - Student Opportunities!
Stone Laboratory, Ohio State University’s Island Campus on Lake Erie, offers 30 college-credit science courses each summer for undergraduate and graduate students, advanced high school students, and educators.  Course credits are transferable to most colleges and universities. Everyone is encouraged to apply!

New Stone Lab Website - Check out the new design at stonelab.osu.edu!
There you can find more information about course offerings, how to apply, and when everything is due. 

Set Your Eyes on a Scholarship - All students taking for-credit classes at Stone Lab are eligible to apply for scholarship funding. The amount granted depends on the classes you choose, but last summer’s awards ranged from $250 to $2,500. Deadline: March 17, 2009

Find more information at stonelab.osu.edu/costs/aid.

Work Three Days, Stay for Free - Working for Stone Lab three days a week can score you free room and board!

These part-time positions are available to college students enrolled in five-week courses. Each position will include dining hall or student housing responsibilities, in addition to duties in the laboratory, library/bookstore, Aquatic Visitors Center, or South Bass Island Lighthouse. Deadline: March 17, 2009

• Editorial: Green Jobs, Blue Water Economy
• New Reports Reveal Great Lakes Influence on Michigan Jobs, Economy
• The Rise of Great Lakes Whitefish: Homely Cousin of Salmon Gets a Boost Through Marketing
• Sustaining Environment and Economy: Michigan Clean Marina Program Creates Win-Win Situation
• Working for Michigan’s Small Harbors: Coalition Tackles Economic and Safety Issues
• New MSU Study Suggests Turning Brown to Green
• Sea Grant Projects Strengthen Local Economies
• Great Lakes Camp Recognized
• Featured Website: Great Lakes Coastal Habitats

February 16

Contents
1) PA Sea Grant - Program News
2) Events
- COSEE Great Lakes - Great Lakes ALIVE!
- OH Sea Grant - SARP Climate Focus Groups Underway
- NY Sea Grant - New Boating Information Center at Central NY Boat Show
- OH Sea Grant - Winter Program, Silent Auction
- MI Sea Grant - Regional Fishery Workshops
- WI Sea Grant - Coastal GeoTools
- NY Sea Grant - Cornell Climate Change Forum
- OH Sea Grant - Charter Captains Conference
- NY Sea Grant - Hear Deep Wreck Explorer Jim Kennard March 7 at Great Lakes Underwater 2009
- MI Sea Grant - Working Waterfronts Conference
- NY Sea Grant - Annual State of Lake Erie Meeting – April 2009
- NY Sea Grant - Lake Ontario Food Web Workshop – April 2009
- COSEE  - Great Lakes Teachers’ Workshop April 29
- COSEE - Lake Erie Exploration Workshop July 18-24
3) MI Sea Grant - In the News - Experts want input on lakes issues
4) OH Sea Grant - Four Lake Erie Marinas Receive Ohio Clean Marinas Distinction
5) NY Sea Grant - Interpretive Signage Program Underway
6) Publications
- COSEE Great Lakes - Sweetwater Seascape - Winter 2009
- MI Sea Grant - West Michigan Angler News - Winter 2009
- NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Splash - February 2009
- NYSG on YouTube: Spotlight
- PA Sea Grant - Keystone Shorelines - January 2009
- IL-IN Sea Grant - New Web Site and Blog
- NY Sea Grant - Go to nyis.info for Help with Invasive Species
- WI Sea Grant - Aquatic Science Chronicle - Winter 2009
- WI Sea Grant - ASC Video Feature - All Washed Up: Lake Michigan's Algae Challenge
7) Student Opportunities
- Environmental Fellowship Opportunities for Graduate and Professional Students
- NY Sea Grant - Watch for Info on 2009 Dunes and River Steward Program
- OH Sea Grant - Stone Lab
8) Staff News
- IISG Shares in Environmental Management Award
____________________________________________________________________

1) PA Sea Grant - Program News
With the designation of Pennsylvania Sea Grant as an Institutional Sea Grant College Program, the national Sea Grant network now includes every coastal state.

2) Events
COSEE Great Lakes - Great Lakes ALIVE!
Online Workshop -Sunday 15 February - Friday 27 February 2009 -http://www.coexploration.org/coseegreatlakes

Join us for another exciting online workshop where educators, scientists, resource managers, and the public can interact and learn about the Great Lakes.  This online workshop on the College of Exploration Online Campus will focus on the biology and the ecological relationships of the Great Lakes!

There will be 5 outstanding keynote presentations over these two weeks. Interact with the presenters and other experts, as well as other participants.  As well, this is an excellent chance to gain new resources for learning more about these topics.

Register NOW if you would like one (1) collegiate graduate credit ($88.00) from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, Continuing Education. The registration form for credit is available at http://www.coexploration.org/coseegreatlakes

If you do not require credit, just log in and participate from Sunday 15th onward.  Participation is FREE.

Presenter Schedule:

• Sunday, Feb. 15 - Dr. Rosanne Fortner: Great Lakes Alive! workshop introduction
• Monday, Feb. 16 - Dr. Carmen Aguilar-Diaz: Great Lakes Plankton & Benthos
• Wednesday, Feb. 18 - Research Biologist Tom Nalepa: Great Lakes Food Web
• Friday, Feb. 20 - Dr. Randal J. Snyder: Great Lakes Fisheries
• Monday, Feb. 23 - Dr. David Lodge: Invasive Species and the Great Lakes
• Wednesday, Feb. 25 - Dr. Deb Swackhamer: Great Lakes and Environmental Health

OH Sea Grant - SARP Climate Focus Groups Underway
A focus group of port, harbor, and marina interests was held February 10 in Toledo to gather input to be used by modelers in the Great Lakes Network project, Preparing Coastal Communities for Climate Change: Translating Model Results to Prepare Ports, Harbors and Stormwater Management Facilities in an Era of Climate Variability and Scientific Uncertainty. A second Toledo area focus groupinterviewing stormwater managers and community planners will be held February 17.

The NOAA-funded project features a two-faceted approach to address the obstacles inherent in preparing for climate change: (a) a scientific component that translates global effects to the local scale and reduces the uncertainty of specific key forecasts or scenarios; and (b) an outreach component building a communication framework that works within a paradigm of uncertainty and variability. Investigating programs include the Sea Grant programs of Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois/Indiana, and NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab and Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research.

At the new Boating Information Center, New York Sea Grant, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Syracuse Sail & Power Squadron, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Canal Corporation, the Environmental Facilities Corporation and the Office of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs & Border Patrol will provide up-to-date information and resources for complying with state and federal boating safety regulations and laws, finding pump-out stations, protecting the marine environment, and discovering New York’s boating destinations.

The Boating Information Center will include the Discover Clean and Safe Boating vessel decked out from bow to stern with all the gear needed to properly and legally equip a pleasure boat to be on the water in 2009. Each item will be tagged with details about its proper use.  “The Discover Clean and Safe Boating display at the new Boating Information Center will show the various gear and equipment needed to comply with 2009 rules and regulations. We are pleased to partner with the other coastal services agencies to provide vital information on boating safety and regulations, cross-border boating, and New York’s terrific boating, diving and fishing destinations,” says David G. White, a recreation and tourism specialist with New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY.

Show Includes Young Boater’s Certification Opportunity
New York Sea Grant, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the Syracuse Sail & Power Squadron will also offer two sessions of the Young Boater’s Certification Course for ages 10 to 17 as part of the education and information mission at the Central New York Boat Show.

One session will begin Thursday, February 12 from 6-8:30 pm and end on Saturday, February 14 from 10am to 3:30 pm; the other course will begin Friday, February 13 from 6-9 pm and end on Sunday, February 15 from 10 am to 3 pm. Pre-registration is required.

Participants must attend both sections of their chosen course for a total of eight classroom hours of training and must complete a proctored exam at the show to be certified to operate a boat on New York State waters. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Syracuse Sail and Power Squadron will teach the course in the Seminar Room of the Horticulture Building at the Fairgrounds.

The course is free and each youth will receive three free admission passes to the Central New York Boat Show. More information will be provided upon registering with New York Sea Grant office at 315-312-3042. Space for each of the two courses will be limited to 20 youth.

Learn more about the Central New York Boat Show and register to win free show tickets at www.cnyboatshow.com.

Melinda Huntley, OSG Tourism Program Director, will present “You Thought You Knew Lake Erie,” an exploration of the Lake Erie area maritime museums, Underground Railroad sites, shipwrecks, and other interesting venues often unknown to the public.  The Silent Auction, including Buckeye football tickets, will begin at 7 p.m. and continue throughout the program.

All funds raised will benefit the programs and scholarships of Stone Laboratory. Payment will only be accepted by cash or check.

Topics presented will cover current research on issues that affect Great Lakes fisheries with focus on southern Lake Michigan.  Speakers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, the U. S. Geological Service Great Lakes Science Center, Illinois/Indiana Sea Grant and Michigan Sea Grant will address biological and policy issues affecting fisheries.  The agenda includes presentations on enlisting the help of anglers in Sea Lamprey control, comparison of summer and winter run strains of steelhead returning to Lake Michigan, an overview of Lake Michigan Salmon and Perch fisheries, lower food web dynamics and the future of fishing, the status of the Lake Michigan forage base, update on Asian Carp, fishery management in the Lake Michigan basin.  Attendees will also be able to give immediate feedback on management tools through electronic survey tools. 
 
Registration fee is $20.00.  Lunch will be provided.  Attendees should register in advance by February 13, 2009 to ensure an adequate lunch count.  Those interested in attending may call the Ottawa County MSU Extension office at (616) 994-4580 for more information.

Contact:  Daniel O'Keefe, PhD, SW District Michigan Sea Grant Extension Educator, Phone (616) 994-4580 or email okeefed@msu.edu

WI Sea Grant - Coastal GeoTools
There will be a strong showing from the Great Lakes (including Dave Hart, WI Sea Grant) at the upcoming Coastal GeoTools conference to be held in Myrtle Beach, SC from March 2-5, 2009. Coastal GeoTools is the biennial conference series that focuses on the technical information needs of the nation's coastal programs. Registration closes on January 31st.  For more information, please see the conference web site (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/geotools/index.html).

• Multi-Temporal Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Land Cover Products for Assessment of Geospatial Wetland Distribution in Michigan. Presented by Benjamin Koziol, Michigan Tech Research Institute
• The Great Lakes Regional Coastal Data Model. Presented by Guan Wang, Great Lakes Commission
• The Great Lakes Observing System's Harborview Application: A Mapping Mashup that Supports Recreational Boating.  Presented by David Hart, University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center
• The New York Ocean & Great Lakes Atlas: Supporting New York's Mandate to Implement Ecosystem-based Management Statewide.  Presented by Jeffrey Herter, New York Department of State
• GLENDA-GIS: An On-Line, Interactive GIS Tool for Accessing, Viewing and Using Great Lakes Water Quality Monitoring Data. Presented by Andriy Zhalnin, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University
• Design and Application of the Great Lakes Habitat Initiative (GLHI) Database. Presented by Roger Gauthier, Great Lakes Commission
• Application of the NOAA Habitat Priority Planner Tool for the Advancement of Restoration Goals of the Great Lakes Regional Collaborative.  Presented by Richard Garcia, Great Lakes Commission
• Using LIDAR to Determine Lake Erie Bluff Recession Rates.  Presented by Keil Schmid, NOAA Coastal Services Center
• The Paddle-to-the-Sea Google Lit Trip: Using Virtual Globes to Bring New Life to a Children's Book About the Great Lakes. (poster) Presented by David Hart, University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center and Rosanne Fortner, COSEE Great Lakes

• Monday February 2-Detlef van Vuuren (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) On emission regimes for stringent temperature targets
• Monday February 23 - Shreekant Gupta (School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore) On international equity
• Monday March 9 - Dan Nepstad (Moore Foundation) On ecological impact
• Monday March 30 - Jonathan Patz (Environmental Studies & Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison) On health impact
• Monday April 6 - Eric Holt-Gimenez (Institute for Food and Development Policy)On biofuels
• TBA - Stephen Schneider (Stanford University) On climate dangers and containment goals

OH Sea Grant - Charter Captains Conference
The 28th Annual Ohio Charter Captains Conference will be held March 7, 2009, at the Firelands branch campus of BGSU in Huron, Ohio. Topics to be covered include: Status of Lake Erie Fisheries and 2009 Fishing Outlook; Lake Erie Law Enforcement Update; Border Crossing Requirements; U.S. Coast Guard News and 2009 Requirements; Restoration of the Sandusky Walleye Stock; Wind Power Development on Lake Erie; Charter Marketing Opportunities Through the Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism; and an Aquatic Invasive Species Update.  The conference is open to anyone interested in charter fishing.  For more information contact Fred Snyder at snyder.8@osu.edu.

More info and registration: $25 ($20/student):  315-312-3042, http://www.oswegomaritime.org/glu.html

MI Sea Grant - Working Waterfronts Conference
March 17-18, 2009 in Lansing
Where: Radisson Hotel
111 N. Grand Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933

Come and discuss jobs, economy, natural resources, visual and recreational access to public waters, tax policy, transportation options and other topics at the Michigan Working Waterfront conference.  This event is being intentionally held in Lansing across from the State Capital in order to make it available for state legislators to attend - you'll see we have a good legislative panel lined up for Wednesday morning and it will be moderated by Mark Wyckoff, MSU Planning & Zoning Center Director.

The conference will be this year's prime opportunity to come together to continue ongoing projects and learn about new issues affecting Michigan's ports and working waterfronts....you'll find a healthy diversity of discussions on how different communities across our state are defining working waterfronts and what common threads of future needs may be.

Speakers from within Michigan as well as from out of state will discuss the host of issues confronting sustainable coasts and communities in our state. A panel of state lawmakers will tackle the policies and needs surrounding working waterfronts. Community planning, jobs and environmental stewardship will also be examined. See the agenda for more details.

Anyone interested in Michigan’s coastal development is invited.

Cost: $25 for early registrations before March 12; $40 after March 12. Includes two days of seminars, lunch on Tuesday, evening reception and refreshments during breaks.  

To learn more about the conference and register, click here (or paste this address in your browser): http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/workshops/workingwaterfronts/index.html

For more information on working waterfronts in Michigan, contact Mark Breederland, Michigan Sea Grant Extension Educator for the Northwest District, by phone at (231) 922-4628 or email at breederl@msu.edu.

NY Sea Grant - Annual State of Lake Erie Meeting – April 2009
Each April, New York Sea Grant works with NYS Assemblyman Jack Quinn, in cooperation with Southtowns Walleye Association of WNY, to hold a State of Lake Erie Meeting.  New York State Department of Environmental Conservation biologists and researchers will make presentations on Lake Erie and its fishery during the 7:00-9:00 pm program. A date is yet to be determined.
 
More info: Helen Domske, mailto:hmd4@cornell.edu

NY Sea Grant - Lake Ontario Food Web Workshop – April 2009
In April (date TBA) 2009, New York Sea Grant, Cornell University and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is holding a Lake Ontario food web workshop in Mississauga, Ontario. This workshop will focus on the basic structure and mechanics of the Lake Ontario lower food web, featuring presentations from top scientists. The lower food web links (phytoplankton-zooplankton) are critical to understanding how the lake ecosystem functions. As such, these links are key indicators of the stability of the ecosystem and are useful for the public’s better understanding of how stocking and nutrient control affect the lake ecosystem.
 
More info: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/glsportfish/pdfs/LOnt-EcoIndicators-Fall08.pdf
For workshop date and details: 315-312-3042
 
COSEE  - Great Lakes Teachers’ Workshop April 29
The April 29, 2009, 4-6pm Great Lakes Teachers’ Workshop for teachers and non-formal educators at Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo, will focus on the Great Lakes and classroom activities that can be used to infuse Great Lakes topics into your curriculum.  This workshop is a Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Great Lakes (COSEE GL)-supported program and teachers will receive a CD-Rom of 42 activities and a $25 stipend to purchase classroom materials.  
 
More info and registration:mailto:SGBuffal@cornell.edu, 716-645-3610
 
COSEE - Lake Erie Exploration Workshop July 18-24
COSEE GL will host 15 selected educators to learn from lake scientists at their research sites in Erie, PA and the F.T. Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie at Put-in-Bay, OH.  New York Sea Grant educator Helen Domske will be one of the instructors for this week-long, experiential workshop.  
 
More info and application form: http://coseegreatlakes.net/events/leew

3) MI Sea Grant - In the News - Experts want input on lakes issues
Excerpt from Traverse City Record-Eagle 2/13/2009
Environmental experts at Michigan Sea Grant want to know what Great Lakes issues deserve their attention in coming years. The research and education-oriented agency funds Great Lakes studies, and wants public input through an online survey as it plans for the next several years. ... The survey is available at www.miseagrant.umich.edu/survey and is designed to gauge past project success and determine what issues to tackle next.
"It's going to really refine our current strategic plan," said Mark Breederland, Michigan Sea Grant's extension educator in Traverse City. "We felt this was the most efficient, effective way to gather input."

4) OH Sea Grant - Four Lake Erie Marinas Receive Ohio Clean Marinas Distinction
Four Lake Erie marinas were recently honored as Certified Ohio Clean Marinas, having put into practice voluntary best management actions designed to protect Lake Erie and the coastal environment. A ceremony recognizing these marinas took place January 21 at the Cleveland Boat & Waterfront Lifestyle Expo being held through Sunday at the I-X Center.

Marinas receiving this distinction were:

• Valley Harbor Marina, Vermilion
• Catawba Landing, Port Clinton
• Castaway Bay Marina, Sandusky
• Port Clinton Yacht Club, Port Clinton

A total of 40 Lake Erie marinas in Ohio have been certified since the program began in 2005, and 20 more have pledged to implement the changes that will earn certification. Pledged marinas must conduct a self-assessment to identify opportunities and make changes to control pollution, ideally within a year. A site review team then verifies that a facility has complied with 100% of the management practices required for certification. In addition, 50% of the program’s recommended practices must be implemented.

“These marinas have demonstrated a proactive commitment toward protecting the environment,” says Colleen Wellington, Coordinator of the Ohio Clean Marinas Program. “Each has attended at least one Clean Marinas workshop, received recommendations on improvements, and taken the initiative to implement the necessary changes. Their dedication is commendable.”

The Ohio Clean Marinas Program is a partnership among the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

5) NY Sea Grant - Interpretive Signage Program Underway
Planning and development are underway for the new comprehensive interpretive signage system that will place two gateway kiosks and eight stand-alone interpretive panels along the Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes & Wetlands Area (ELODWA) and at agricultural riparian buffer sites in the upper portion of the Sandy Creeks’ watershed. New York Sea Grant is partnering with the Tug Hill Commission and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to enhance public education through the new signage program as one of the demonstration projects of the Sandy Creeks’ Ecosystem-based Management Initiative. Themes and conceptual designs are now being developed for the ELODWA panels; background information is being gathered for the buffer site panels.
 
More info: 315-312-3042, mailto:mp357@cornell.edu
More info on Sandy Creeks’ EBM Initiative: http://www.ecologicllc.com/scebm.html

6) Publications
COSEE Great Lakes - Sweetwater Seascape - Winter 2009 - http://coseegreatlakes.net/newsletter/nl9.html

• From the Helm: Beth Hinchey-Malloy
• Great Lakes/Marine Education Calendar: Winter/Spring 2009
• GLEAMS News
• New Website - http://www.greatlakeseducators.org/
• Renew Membership
• Election time
• Local Great Lakes/Marine Education meetings
• Mini-grant deadline extended
• COSEE Great Lakes NEws
• Free online workshop - Great Lakes ALIVE!
• IAGLR School for Scientists and Teachable Moment
• Shipboard and Shoreline Science
• Lake Erie Exploration
• COSEE PI accepts endowed chair
• Kania to present at Ohio ETech conference
• Opportunities
• Shoals Marine Lab
• Garden club supports graduate research
• Curriculum unit on climate change
• Shedd Aquarium workshops on demand
• COSEE O'LAKERS funds
• Great Lakes News
• GL Commission looks toward Obama's Great Lakes agenda
• Shovel ready at the new Sault lock
• Separate the Lakes from the Mississippi?
• IJC Focus Newsletter
• Freshwater Future alerts on lake-by-lake issues
• New GLERL Lab and Director
• Lake St. Clair Conference Proceedings
• Spiny waterflea found in inland lake
• Marine News
• Bush's ocean monument
• Ocean Conservancy suggests Obama action
• Jane Lubchenco to head NOAA
• NOAA and NSF Commission Study of Ocean Acidification
• Map shows human toll of climate change
• 2 trillion tons of ice lost since 2003
• Threat to bluefin tuna continues
• Resources for Teaching: Great Lakes
• Eastern Ontario Dunes and Wetlands
• GLOS
• Climate Change in the Great Lakes
• Activity: Do Christmas Bird Count data reflect trends associated with global climate change?
• Resources for Teaching: Marine
• Marine Fisheries News
• NOS Introduces New Online Education Tools
• Estuaries 101 Online Curriculum
• Coral Reef Education Resources
• Online documentary on desert porpoise

MI Sea Grant - West Michigan Angler News - Winter 2009

• Regional Fishery Workshops Provide Opportunity to Make Your Voice Heard
• How Important is a Diverse Great Lakes Fishery?
• Round Goby Continues to Impact Great Lakes
• Anti-fishing Arguments and Catch-and-Release Realities
• Cormorants Linked to Les Cheneaux Perch Decline
• Asian Tapeworm Found in Detroit River
• Lake Michigan Tournament Economics

Contact Dan O'Keefe <okeefed@msu.edu> for full text.

NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Splash - February 2009

• New York Sea Grant Partners on New “Boating Info Center”
• Young Boater Certification Offered Feb. 12-15
• Great Lakes ALIVE! On-line Workshop February 16-27
• Hear Deep Wreck Explorer Jim Kennard March 7 at Great Lakes Underwater 2009
• Annual State of Lake Erie Meeting – April 2009
• Lake Ontario Food Web Workshop – April 2009
• Great Lakes Teachers’ Workshop April 29
• Lake Erie Exploration Workshop July 18-24
• Interpretive Signage Program Underway
• Watch for Info on 2009 Dunes and River Steward Program
• Go to nyis.info for Help with Invasive Species
  

NY Sea Grant - YouTube: Spotlight
http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=320

PA Sea Grant - Keystone Shorelines - January 2009 - http://seagrant.psu.edu/publications/newsletters/jan09/jan09.htm

• Pennsylvania Sea Grant Charts Successful Path
• Floating Classrooms
• Special Tour Guides on Pennsylvania Sea Grant Water Taxi Cruises
• Pennsylvania Sea Grant 'Tall Fall' Offered Science, History Lessons
• Shrinking Problem for Lake Erie
• Pennsylvania Sea Grant Director Receives Environmental Leadership Award
• RX for Unused Medicines
• Presque Isle Bay Watershed Plan is Moving Ahead!
• Teacher Training Tackles Serious Threats
• Zebra and Quagga Monitoring
• Pennsylvania Sea Grant is Growing
• Calendar of Events

• Fingerprinting Wild Rice
• Studying the Bugs that Fight Back
• Annual AWRA Meeting in Point
• Wisconsin's Water Library Launches AquaLog Blog
• Education News - Educators are invited to explore Lake Superior in 2009’s COSEE workshop
• ASC Droplets
• All 76 maps Great Lakes maps published by the U.S. Lake Survey from 1852 to 1882 now available online
• Lake Superior estuarine research reserve moves forward
• Dredging on Lower Fox to begin in spring

7) Student Opportunities
Environmental Fellowship Opportunities for Graduate and Professional Students

• Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship -This program matches graduate students with hosts in the legislative or executive branches, or other institutions in Washington, D.C.  Fellows learn about and contribute to policy projects related to marine and Great Lakes resources.    http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/
• Sea Grant- Great Lakes Commission Fellowship - This fellowship is based at the Great Lakes Commission, a non-profit, binational organization in Ann Arbor that works to advance the environmental quality and sustainable economic development of the Great Lakes region.  The fellow will contribute to and benefit from research coordination and policy analysis activities.   http://www.glc.org/about/scholarships/fellow.html
• NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship - Fellows work with agency hosts around the U.S. in state coastal zone management programs.  Projects will address substantive state-level coastal resource management issues such as climate change adaptation and hazard resiliency.  http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/fellows.html

Students must apply directly to their state Sea Grant programs.  The application deadlines are in late January or February.

NY Sea Grant - Watch for Info on 2009 Dunes and River Steward Program
In anticipation of funding approval for the 2009 Eastern Lake Ontario Dune Steward and Salmon River Steward programs, New York Sea Grant, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Parks, and The Nature Conservancy are planning a busy summer and fall season for the college and graduate students who work as stewards along the lakeshore and riverfront. The stewards provide public outreach education walks and programs, promote environmentally-sound recreational use of natural resources, and assist with monitoring surveys, field projects, and maintenance of natural habitat and public access areas in Oswego and Jefferson counties. Check weekly for the 2009 job descriptions at nysdunes.org.

More info: http://www.nysgdunes.org, mailto:mp357@cornell.edu

OH Sea Grant - Stone Lab
Research Experience for Undergraduates
 
Stone Lab’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Scholarship Program gives students a chance take a five-week Stone Lab course while spending their “non-class” days focused on research. Participants have the opportunity to use scientific equipment, explore the islands, collect data­even scuba dive.
 
Focus areas include:

• Entomology
• Limnology
• Herpetology
• Ornithology
• Fisheries management, and
• Biological collections curation

8) Staff News
IISG Shares in Environmental Management Award

January 16, 2009

Contents

1. Events
1. WI Sea Grant - Dealing with Algae on Great Lakes Beaches
2. OH Sea Grant - Lake Erie Day at Cleveland Boat Expo to support OSU research, education
3. MI Sea Grant - Commercial Fisheries Workshop: Innovations in Great Lakes Fish Handling & Processing to Increase your Bottom Line
4. OH Sea Grant - Annual Winter Program and Silent Auction
5. MI Sea Grant - The Great Lakes: Adapting to a Wave of Change
2. MN Sea Grant - New Research Projects
3. OH Sea Grant - Love the Lake? Support the Science
4. Publications
1. MN Sea Grant - Seiche - December 2008 - www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/
2. PA Sea Grant - ErieTimes-News in Education - What's Hot in NIE? 
3. MN Sea Grant -Fresh Water: Understanding and Solving Freshwater Problems Facing the World
4. MN Sea Grant -Towards Sustainable Tourism
5. MN Sea Grant - Journal Reprints
5. Student Opportunities
1. Sea Grant Fellowship Opportunities
2. OH Sea Grant - Stone Laboratory Summer 2009 Field Course and REU Opportunities - stonelab.osu.edu
6. 6) Staff News
1. MI Sea Grant - Scavia named new Graham Institute director
2. IL-IN Sea Grant - New Assistant Director
3. NY Sea Grant - Interim Program Leader
4. MN Sea Grant - New Address
5. PA Sea Grant - New Office in Harrisburg
   

• Examining the Impacts of Antibacterial Personal Care Products on Lake Superior Bacteria. Personnel: Kristine Wammer, University of St. Thomas - Many personal care products and prescription drugs contain antibacterial chemicals. The presence of low concentrations of these chemicals in wastewater and, ultimately, in lakes and rivers is a topic of recent scientific and media interest. However, not much is known about how these contaminants might affect the environment. This project looks at one antibacterial chemical, triclosan, which is widely used in hand soaps, toothpaste, and deodorants and other consumer products. The researcher intends to determine the resistance of Lake Superior bacteria to triclosan by sampling bacteria from the Duluth-Superior Harbor and several nearshore locations in Lake Superior. The bacteria will be exposed to very low concentrations of triclosan in the laboratory to note if their growth rates are affected. The researcher also hopes to clarify if low concentrations of triclosan alter the composition of Lake Superior bacterial communities. The results will be compared to previous studies of Mississippi River bacteria and can be extrapolated to other surface water bodies. The project will help natural resource agencies and scientists decide whether triclosan is an ecological threat that requires more comprehensive study, monitoring, or regulation.
• Using Slimy Sculpins to Evaluate the Role of Genetics in the Success of Animal Reintroductions. Personnel: Loren Miller, University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UM) -Animal reintroduction efforts are likely to become more common due to habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation, coupled with the effects of climate change. Understanding what contributes to the success of these efforts will increase their effectiveness.  This project will use genetic testing to explore the survival and reproduction rates of slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus, a small, bottom-dwelling forage fish) translocated into several southern Minnesota streams. The tests will determine if there's a match between the quality of the sculpin's original habitat and the success they have in their new habitat. Researchers suspect that fish from low-quality habitats (streams with extensive silt and little bank vegetation) do better in low-quality habitats than fish from high-quality habitats (streams with a rocky bottom and wooded or grass-covered banks) and vice-versa. The findings will help guide natural resource managers in their efforts to restore this and other species.  This project builds on methods used in previous Sea Grant-funded studies that compared the survival of offspring from steelhead trout that were stocked in Lake Superior streams.
• Determining the Potential for Harm to Human Health From Bacteria Found on Lake Superior Beaches. Personnel: Michael Sadowsky and Randall Hicks, UM and the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) - This project builds on previous Sea Grant research to identify the sources of high levels of bacteria on several Lake Superior beaches. While these sources are currently being identified, the potential for harm from the bacteria has not been determined.  This project will determine the pathogenicity (ability to cause diseases) of E. coli (Escherichia coli) and other bacteria present on two beaches in Duluth using new, high-throughput robotic technologies. The researchers will examine bacterial and sediment samples for the presence of genes that come from harmful bacteria. They will also determine whether the presence of these genes vary over short time scales. This will help the researchers learn whether there's a relationship between environmental factors and the level of harmful bacteria in waterways.  The results will be useful for pollution control, wastewater treatment facilities, and state health department personnel, and will have widespread application for other coastal areas of the Great Lakes. Results from these studies could lead to better wastewater release and remediation practices, and to more informed health advisories.
• Midges and Mayflies: Assessing Stream Conditions Through Insect Communities. Personnel: Leonard Ferrington, Jr., Kim Wilcox, Frances Matos-Schultz, Will Bouchard, UM - Trout streams contain more than fish and water. They are the milieu for hundreds of species, including insects, which reflect stream quality through their presence and abundance. In this study, researchers will partner with volunteers to collect and identify the empty larval cases of midges from 12 trout streams running into Lake Superior through Duluth. They will investigate whether species in the midge community show more sensitivity to subtle stream differences, particularly those associated with increased urbanization, than do the traditional species used to monitor stream health (mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies).  The researchers suspect that midges will be more sensitive indicators and also acceptable for use in projects monitored by volunteers. The researchers will also determine if there is a correlation between the stream insect community and the amount of impervious surface covering the stream watersheds. The information produced through this study will be made available online and translated into Spanish, Somali, and Hmong to reach minority audiences. The results will aid monitoring projects, especially those concerned with maintaining fishable streams.
• Measuring Trends in Lake Superior's Productivity Based on Two Centuries of Sediment. Personnel: Robert Hecky, Thomas Johnson, Josef Werne, UMD - Residual bits of long-dead algae promise to reveal how Lake Superior's fertility has changed from the days when Ojibwe trappers and French voyageurs rendezvoused around its perimeter, through an era of logging, until now. Researchers intend to extract a history of plant productivity from six sediment cores retrieved from the bottom of the lake.  They expect that the compounds and atoms within the first foot of these cores will illuminate at least three things: how the lake's photosynthetic species responded to an influx of phosphorous before wastewater treatment improved, the origin of the nitrogen that has significantly increased in the lake over the past century, and a clearer understanding of how humans have influenced the base of Lake Superior's food web. This information will help federal, state, provincial, and tribal agencies responsible for managing the Great Lakes interpret current environmental conditions and better prepare for the consequences of local and global climate change.
• Using Weather and Stream Data Animations to Increase Public Awareness About Factors Affecting Lake Superior. Personnel: George Host and Richard Axler, UMD -As many in the news business know, people are weather watchers. Researchers will capitalize on society's interest in meteorology to test whether television broadcast meteorologists can enhance their viewers' understanding of stormwater runoff and the ways it can damage water quality. Working with Northland's News Center (KBJR-TV3 and 6) and the Regional Stormwater Protection Team in Duluth, the researchers will create state-of-the-art visualizations to integrate real-time stream data and water quality information into local weather reports. They will also combine data imaging and mapping tools to develop vignettes ("data stories") to explain how the amount, type, and timing of precipitation influences water quality and quantity, and relate these to news stories about stormwater overflows, pollution, flooding, and climate change.  The vignettes will be made available to news stations serving the Lake Superior Basin, on news Web sites, and on LakeSuperiorStreams.org. The researchers will evaluate the success of these new materials, and ascertain if television and Internet-based audiences gained a better appreciation and understanding of the role water plays in the environment.
• Mapping Deep Waters to Discover Lake Trout Spawning Grounds. Personnel: Nigel Wattrus, UMD - Several miles from the harbor in Marquette, Mich., about the length of a football field down, a swath of lake floor might be the secret spawning ground of siscowet, a deep-dwelling strain of lake trout. Little is known about the life cycle of Lake Superior's siscowets. Presumably, they spawn over deep reefs but no sites have been identified. Michigan researchers discovered a clue to the location of the spawning grounds when they netted several egg-laden females during regular sampling.  This project seeks to map potential spawning habitat used by Lake Superior's abundant siscowet population using multibeam and sidescan sonar techniques to generate data and images reflecting the lake floor's composition. Approximately 25 square miles will be scrutinized for evidence of deep lake floor reefs and areas of cobble. This research should result in a clearer picture of a potentially important portion of Lake Superior's floor and of siscowet spawning habitat. The study and maps will benefit fisheries managers throughout the Great Lakes seeking to understand lake trout or restore these native fish to their former range.
  

• Science by Another Name - Editorial by MN Sea Grant Director Steve Bortone
  
• Invasive Species Management is People Management - The Minnesota Invasive Species Conference grappled with non-native species disturbing the state's terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Read about the topics, the people, and the activities that made this first-ever conference a resounding success.
• Minnesota Sea Grant Selects Latest Round of Research Projects - Seven scientists will be leading Sea Grant projects in Minnesota in 2009. Learn how they'll advance society's ability to manage Lake Superior and other freshwater resources.
• Ballast Water is Topic of Symposium - Regulating ballast water discharges from ships is getting complicated. Sea Grant facilitated a symposium to tease apart some of the challenges and opportunities that policies, technology, and the economy are creating for managing ballast water in the Great Lakes.
  
• Readers Want to Know - What's a Seiche?
• Where are they now? - Keeping Track of Former Sea Grant-funded Graduate Students
• New Science Looks at Big Picture for the Future - A branch of science that has emerged over the past two decades is attempting to encompass both fundamental understanding and practical applications with a fascinating goal: to learn the degree to which humans are living in harmony with their environment and how they can continue to do so over the long term.
• Did Ja Know? The tire trade is an important vector for the spread of Asian mosquitoes

Bergstrom, M., Evrad, L., and Mensigner, A. (2008) Distribution, Abundance, and Range of the Round Goby, Apollina melanostoma, in the Duluth-Superior Harbor and St. Louis River Estuary, 1998-2004. Journal of Great Lakes Research 34:535-543. (JR 542)

Hershey, A., Beaty, S., Fortino, K., Keyse, M., Mou, P., O'Brien, W., Ulseth, A., Gettel, G., Lienesch, P., Luecke, C., McDonald, M., Mayer, C., Miller, M., Richards, C., Schuldt, J., and Whalen, S. (2006) Effect of Landscape Factors on Fish Distribution in Arctic Alaskan Lakes. Freshwater Biology 51:39-55. (JR 553)

Course listing:  stonelab.osu.edu/courses
REU program: stonelab.osu.edu/reu
Scholarships and jobs: http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/stonelab/courses/aid/
Flier to Distribute or Post:  http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/stonelab/apps/REU.pdf

The Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute was launched in 2005 and is funded jointly by the University and the Graham Foundation, a philanthropic organization established by Donald Graham and his wife, Ingrid. Pending Board of Regents approval, Scavia will also be named the Graham Family Professor.

The Graham Institute supports multidisciplinary research and education related to environmental sustainability. It awards research grants, fellowships and scholarships, and it sponsors academic programs.  The Institute focuses on six key issues: energy; freshwater and marine resources; human health and the environment; biodiversity and global change; sustainable infrastructure, built environment and manufacturing; and environmental policymaking and human behavior.

"This is a great opportunity to capitalize on the diverse strengths across campus and to bring them together to help us understand and solve some of the most critical environmental sustainability issues," Scavia said.  "The University of Michigan has all the right tools to be a global leader in this field: strength in the natural sciences, strength in the social sciences, and strength in policy analysis," he said. "All we need is a mechanism to bring that expertise together, and that's the Graham Institute's role."

Scavia's appointment is retroactive to Jan. 1. He takes over from Interim Director Brian Talbot.  He will be stepping down as director of MI Sea Grant.

Beginning January 2, Pennsylvania Sea Grant opened a new office in Harrisburg. This office will focus on issues relating to the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay, as well as statewide aquatic invasive species issues.  The new office will be staffed by Sara Grisé, who previously worked in the  Erie office, and Sarah Whitney, who previously worked in the  Chester office. The office will be located in the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission building on Elmerton Ave. in Harrisburg. This building is currently undergoing renovations and will be available for Sea Grant’s use in March 2009.
Contact Information:

Sarah Whitney

Associate Director, Susquehanna River

Phone: 610-304-8753

E-mail: swhitney@psu.edu

Sara Grisé

Coastal Outreach Specialist

Phone: 814-602-4383