On 16 July, 2010, researchers at Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory welcomed state congressmen and representatives and their guests to the research facility on Lake Erie’s Gibraltar Island. Participants had the opportunity to tour the facility, including the laboratories where students and faculty were engaged in research regarding water quality, climate change, the interrelationship between agricultural practices and the condition of the lake, and more. Participants also boarded two research vessels, where they observed as researchers demonstrated how they scoop up samples from the lake bottom and net samplings of fish. Some of the elected officials donned life vests and manned the nets and ropes.
While on board the research vessel, both Senator Mark Wagoner (R- District 2) and Representative Dennis Murray (D-Sandusky) got hands-on experience with the program as they worked the trawling net. Ohio Representative Timothy Derickson (R-District 53), aboard the second research vessel, handled the net along with his son, Matt. The two hauled aboard a catch of yellow perch and a few round gobies for researcher Dr. John Hageman to show to those on board.
Round gobies are an invasive species that threaten the population of smallmouth bass by voraciously consuming the smallmouth’s eggs. Hageman also pointed out the presence of harmful algal blooms in the water, explaining that cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as blue-green algae, deplete the water of oxygen, decreasing the quality of the habitat for walleye, yellow perch, and other sport fish.
Speakers Emphasize Research, Education, and Outreach
Jeff Reutter, Director of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, stressed that the program’s success is largely due to the wide network of support which it enjoys. Important support comes from educational partners, especially The Ohio State University and other universities; private sector contributors; and elected officials. Elected officials promote its mission to solve problems and find ways to protect Lake Erie, the Great Lakes, and the oceans, and to increase the value of these bodies of water.
“Lake Erie is an economic driver for the state and for our region,” Reutter said. “By supporting the hands-on research on Lake Erie that goes on here, we’re trying to do our part to restore this ecosystem.” The Ohio Sea Grant College Program is one of 32 such programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Reutter made special mention of the program’s gratitude to Senator Wagoner and Representative Murray for their ongoing support for Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory.
Both Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee and Janet M. Weisenberg, Ph.D., Senior Associate Vice President for Research, attended the event. Dr. Gee said, during the welcoming remarks, “Our Sea Grant program is a shining star.” He thanked Senator Wagner and Representative Murray for their continued support and commitment to the program. “The work that is conducted at Stone Lab is an outstanding example of the value of the university to the people of the state,” he said.
Dr. Weisenberger explained how the Ohio Sea Grant’s research fits into the university’s mission, saying, “As a land grant university, one of our primary purposes is to improve the quality of life for people in Ohio. We do that in three ways. We do that through our teaching; we do that through our research; and we do that through our engagement. I don’t think that there is a better example anywhere in the university, than this organization that so seamlessly intertwines all three of those things. The research informs the teaching, the teaching in turn informs the research, and both of those are part of what we do in engaging with the community. I’ve never seen anything else at the university that does it the way that Stone Lab and Sea Grant do it.”
Visitors to Lake Erie may tour Gibraltar Island and Stone Laboratory, and also attend free lectures there. More information regarding these events is available at the Ohio State's Stone Laboratory, (Stonelab.osu.edu).
Brenda Layman - I grew up in eastern Kentucky in a family that hunted, fished, hiked, and camped regularly. Although I moved to Ohio to become a teacher ...
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