Contacts:

Dave White, NYSG Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist, E: dgw9@cornell.edu, P: 315-312-3042

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG's Great Lakes Freelance Publicist, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315-465-7578 

Proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Story Includes Local, State, National Representatives

Oswego, NY, August 26, 2022 - Representatives of the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, Oswego County, New York Sea Grant (NYSG), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Sanctuary Great Lakes Program share thoughts on the proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary in a recently aired story produced by WPBS-TV, Watertown, New York. The story, seen below, originally aired on August 23rd at 7:30 pm as part of WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories, a weekly current affairs show. 


There are 43 known shipwrecks and one submerged aircraft in the proposed area that includes Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga, and Wayne counties.

NYSG Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White, Oswego County Administrator Philip Church, Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Vice Chair and Member-at-Large Katie Malinowski, and NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Great Lakes Regional Coordinator Ellen Brody are interviewed in the 8-minute story that highlights the environmental, recreational, economic and maritime cultural value of the proposed project. 

The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries manages a national network of the sanctuaries in U.S. and Great Lakes waters. The proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary designation area includes the waters offshore of Wayne, Cayuga, Oswego, and Jefferson counties. 

The proposed Great Lake Ontario NMS area includes 43 known shipwrecks, dating to the late 1700s, and one submerged aircraft, with the potential to add more shipwrecks and submerged aircraft. For example, the David W. Mills (offshore of Oswego) is New York State’s first Submerged Cultural Preserve and Dive Site in the Great Lakes region. The St. Peter (located off Pultneyville, Wayne County) is on the National Register of Historic Places. 


Shipwrecks, sailors' stories, artifacts from bygone eras. Great Lakes' history is not only on display at NOAA's current and proposed national marine sanctuaries on the Great Lakes, it's there for visitors of all ages to engage with and enjoy. Join Great Lakes Now host Nick Austin and GLN's Sandra Svoboda for this early September 2022 Facebook viewing party to learn more about visiting these unique places, whether you're a tourist on land or a diver in the water. Also, view a new video from WPBS-TV in Watertown, New York about Lake Ontario's proposed sanctuary, and get answers about the sanctuaries and their shipwrecks from NOAA experts.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.