“State of the Lake Erie” on April 11th features warm and cold fisheries status, barotrauma, how to inspire environmental stewardship in youth

Contacts:

Jesse M. Lepak, Ph.D., New York Sea Grant's Fisheries and Ecosystem Specialist, P: 315-312-3042, E: jml78@cornell.edu

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


Hamburg, NY, March 21, 2019 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) will present the annual State of Lake Erie Meeting on April 11, 2019 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Southtowns Walleye Association Club House, 5895 Southwestern Boulevard, Hamburg, N.Y.

The event is open to the public and is held in cooperation with New York State Assemblymember Sean Ryan and the Southtowns Walleye Association of WNY.


A walleye catch on Lake Erie. Credit: Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau.

Featured presentations include NYSDEC Aquatic Biologist Jim Markham on cold water fisheries, including rainbow trout, and NYSDEC Lake Erie Unit Leader Jason Robinson on warm water fish communities, including walleye and yellow perch. 

NYSG Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Jesse Lepak will provide an update on how fisheries managers, educators, and angling associations are addressing barotrauma. Barotrauma is the tissue damage caused by the rapid expansion of the swim bladder of the fish when retrieved from deep water. NYSG co-sponsored a workshop with international fisheries experts in 2018 to address barotrauma in Lake Erie yellow perch.

Sandy Smith, a member of the science faculty at the Nichols School, a nationally-recognized college preparatory school in Buffalo, N.Y., will share a case study about inspiring environmental leadership and stewardship in youth. 
 
A complete agenda is available here (pdf).

For more information or directions, contact NYSG's Lepak: email jml78@cornell.edu or call 315-312-3042.

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 33 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, 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. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.