Great Lakes Region

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
Invasive Species: Illinois-Indiana Sound and Bubble Barrier Deters Asian Carp
• Sea Grant researchers are preventing Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes with tiny bubbles and chirping noises.
• This underwater acoustic barrier is effective in deterring these invasive species, proving 95 percent effective in causing bighead and silver carp to turn around.
• “The acoustic barrier works with the use of sound projectors and an air line that generates bubbles,” said researcher, Mark Pegg. Typically, sound is muffled underwater, but bubbles provide a way to amplify the repellant sound and direct it to a specific area. And, the effervescence is an additional disturbance to the fish.

Michigan Sea Grant
Coastal Community Development: EPA Administrator Praises Great Lakes and Detroit River Partnerships
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Steve Johnson praised two projects for which Michigan Sea Grant has played an integral role—the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration plan to clean up the Great Lakes; and, the Detroit River partnership effort to restore and protect the Detroit River.
• Sea Grant assisted in developing a bi-national Conservation Vision for the lower Detroit River ecosystem, which led to the formation of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Sea Grant also assisted in brownfield redevelopment, contaminated sediment removal and soft engineering along the Detroit River.

Minnesota Sea Grant
Water Quality: Minnesota Sea Grant Technology Is Making Water Safer
• Minnesota Sea Grant researcher, Michael Sadowsky is tracking the sources of E. coli, a bacterium found in fecal matter that poses a significant health threat and is commonly responsible for beach closures.
• Using a robotic system, he can sample 40,000 bacterial colonies simultaneously, pinpointing the source of the contamination.
• Sadowsky identified geese as the source of contamination at a Lake Superior beach last year, which allowed the beach to remain open when it otherwise would have been closed. With municipalities spending billions on new water-quality systems, Sadowsky's work could have significant impacts.

Ohio Sea Grant
Great Lakes Observations/Coastal Hazards: Sea Grant and NOS Partner to Enhance Great Lakes Weather Forecasting
• NOAA Oceans and Coasts and Ohio Sea Grant are applying innovative technologies to enhance the precision and predictability of Great Lakes weather forecasting.
• Researchers are demonstrating how the use of satellite data from five altimeters (instruments indicating altitude observing about 600 miles in space) could evolve into an operational observing system that can measure lake level changes with an accuracy of less than three centimeters.
• The researchers propose to incorporate data from all-weather satellite radar altimeters and Global Positioning System navigation satellites into the existing Great Lakes' forecasting system.
• The project has established more than 20 permanent Global Positioning System stations around U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes' coastal areas. This is a multi-year, multi-partner collaboration demonstrating excellent promise.

Pennsylvania Sea Grant
Land Management/Coastal Tourism: Sea Grant Helps Develop Plan for Seaway Trail “Scenic Byway”
• Pennsylvania Sea Grant is working with stakeholders and the public to develop a plan that will designate the 454-mile Seaway Trail, which parallels several Great Lakes and rivers, as a “National Scenic Byway.”
• Formal designation will help the state promote this area as a tourist attraction and allow local groups to apply for additional grant monies to enhance the intrinsic qualities of the byway.

Lake Champlain (VT) Sea Grant
Shoreline Stabilization/Coastal Communities and Economies: Sea Grant and Partners Develop User-Friendly Coastal Erosion Guidebook
• As part of the Northwest Regional Planning Commission-led effort, Sea Grant helped develop a user-friendly coastal erosion control guidebook for coastal communities.
• The guidebook will help governments and citizens to stabilize the shoreline of Lake Champlain.

Wisconsin Sea Grant
Water Quality: Study Highlights Importance of Testing Well Water
• A Wisconsin Sea Grant study illustrates the difficulty of predicting arsenic concentrations in new or existing wells because geological sources of arsenic vary throughout the state.
• The researchers urge all owners of private wells in Wisconsin to have their water tested annually for arsenic and nitrates—a contaminant that comes from fertilizers, animal wastes and septic systems.