Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 10, Number 2 • March-April 2002
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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Articles by Susan A. Smith
The round goby, an aggressive, non-native species of fish introduced to the Great Lakes in the early 1990s by the ballast water of ocean-going vessels, has invaded the state’s tributaries of Lake Erie, according to Pennsylvania Sea Grant-supported research by a Gannon University biologist.
After collecting samples from six tributaries that feed Lake Erie, Dr. Edward C. Phillips found that the goby population was most dense in Elk Creek, where just over 137 gobies were collected per hour of electrofishing. Where present, gobies made up 17.1 percent of the fish present in Elk Creek, and were found as far as 1.4 miles from the mouth of the creek.
Round gobies had their second greatest density in Twenty Mile Creek, where almost 104 round gobies were collected in an hour. Gobies made up 30.4 percent of the fish collected, but were found no farther than four-tenths of a mile upstream, where a waterfall blocks further invasion.
The third greatest density of round gobies was found in Walnut Creek. Gobies made up 12.7 percent of the fish collected, and were found as far as three-tenths of a mile upstream. Gobies comprised only 1.5 percent of the fish found in Sixteen Mile Creek, primarily because fish were collected only from a pool just above the mouth.
No gobies were found in Twelve Mile Creek or Conneaut Creek. And no round gobies were collected in upstream areas of the sampled streams, indicating that, thus far, there has been no bait-bucket transfer of the fish.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Great Lakes Protection Fund has approved a $45,000 grant to the Tri-County Intermediate Unit to implement a Microscale Chemistry project in the Lake Erie Watershed. The grant will be used to expand the use of microscale chemistry equipment in school labs as a means to prevent pollution in the watershed. DEP Office of Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance Program Manager Brad Vanderhoof encouraged school laboratories to try alternative lab equipment that uses less hazardous chemicals like the kind being used at Strong Vincent High School in Erie.
“We have collected hundreds of pounds of hazardous, unwanted chemicals from school labs in recent years with the goal of improving safety for students and staff and protecting the environment,” Vanderhoof said. “Today’s experiment using microscale equipment illustrates that large amounts of chemicals are not necessary for students to successfully learn scientific principles. Experiments using microscale equipment use fewer chemicals, generate less waste, and are safer because the user is exposed to fewer hazardous chemicals.”
In addition, the grant will support the collection and analysis of environmental samples by students in participating schools. This assessment information will be shared with local watershed groups. The demonstration project began with Strong Vincent High School in Erie. Great Lakes Protection Fund grants are available for environmental education, research, and outreach in the Lake Erie Basin.
ESCAPE: Exotic Species Compendium of Activities to Protect the Ecosystem is a comprehensive collection of over 36 multidisciplinary classroom activities for grades 5-9 designed to enhance students’ knowledge of exotic species. Created by teachers throughout the Great Lakes, this compendium contains activities that include science-based data collection, geography, art, music, and more related to exotic species. Teacher workshops are tentatively planned for Summer 2002. For more information, please contact Anne Danielski at 814-898-6421 or add118@psu.edu.You can also visit the ESCAPE website at www.iisgcp.org/edu/escape/index.html.
Annette Marshall, OSB |