For Immediate Release
March 13, 1998
Contact: Marc Gaden
734-662-3209 ext. 14
mgaden@glfc.org

Niagara Falls, Ontario to Host Lakes Erie and
Ontario Committee Meetings

World-class scientists and fishery managers to convene essential forum for
joint management of shared Great Lakes fishery resources

ANN ARBOR, MI-Fishery management officials from the Province of Ontario and the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York will convene their annual Lake Committee meetings in Niagara Falls, Ontario, starting March 24, 1998. The Lake Committee meetings will be held at the Ramada Suites Niagara, 7389 Lundy's Lane, Niagara Falls (905-356-6119). Lake Committee meetings are open to the public and to the media.

Lake Committees-which are the major action arms for the agencies to achieve their joint objectives for sustaining and enhancing fisheries-are convened by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Lake Committees are the primary forums under which fishery officials meet to discuss day-to-day fishery management issues and to set long-term goals for fishery rehabilitation. The management agencies on the committees work by consensus and establish such things as total allowable catch, stocking levels, research needs, and habitat improvement projects. Each state, province, and tribal jurisdiction bordering a particular Great Lake has a seat on the particular Lake Committee.

"The Great Lakes resources are shared by many jurisdictions," said Charles Krueger, Chairman of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. "Lake Committees allow Great Lakes management agencies to work together to address the day-to-day issues surrounding management of the fishery and to achieve long-term sustainability of these valuable resources. Lake Committees are widely viewed as one of the world's best examples of cooperative international fishery management. They help agencies prevent duplication of effort and they remind us that political boundaries should not hinder sound fishery management, but rather, should be a source of collective strength."

"Lake Committee forums present the community with a tremendous opportunity to learn about the Great Lakes fishery and to witness cooperative fishery management in action," added Lake Erie Committee chairman Rob MacGregor of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. "The scientists and fishery managers who attend the meetings will present the most current data available about the state of the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario fisheries and about the management challenges we face."

The schedule for the individual lake committees and the topics to be presented are listed below.

Agendas for the Lower Lake Committees

Lake Ontario Committee

1:00 p.m., March 24th through Noon, March 25th

• Atlantic salmon task report
• Status of the Lake Ontario Lakewide Management Plan
• Cormorant policy developments
• Native prey management
• OMNR two-line regulation
• Fish Community Objectives for Lake Ontario
• Lower trophic levels
• Environmental Protection Agency Benthic Survey
• Eastern Lake Ontario food web
• Prey in Lake Ontario
• Predators in Lake Ontario
• Lake trout assessment
• Sea lamprey control
• Implications of recent observations to Fish Community Objectives
• Atlantic salmon research
• Sturgeon
• Contaminants
• Warmwater fish trends
• Long-term fish community trends
• Cormorant diet studies
• St. Lawrence River
• Resource use (recreational, commercial, aboriginal)

Presentations common to the Lakes Erie and Ontario Committees:

11:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m., March 25th

• Great Lakes Fishery Commission issues
• International sea lamprey management on the St. Marys River
• Board of Technical Experts Highlights
• Great Lakes Fish Health Committee Report
• Habitat Advisory Board
• Lakewide Management Plan update
•  

Lake Erie Committee

2:00 p.m., March 25th through 2:00 p.m., March 26th

• Sea lamprey control in Lake Erie
• Yellow Perch Task Group Report
• Walleye Task Group Report
• Deep-water amphipod (Diporeia) issues
• Round goby colonization from central basin of Lake Erie
• Status of recovery of burrowing mayflies in Lake Erie and implications for the fish community
• Historical perspective concerning shifts in the fish community of Lake Erie
• Effects of oligotrophication [phosphorus control] and Dreissena [zebra and quagga mussel] invasion on the eastern basin fish community
• Cold-water task group report
• Forage task group report
• Standing technical committee summary
• Perspectives from the Lake Erie trophic transfer study
• East basin issues
• Lake Erie Fish Community Objectives
• Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan
• Environmental objectives for Lake Erie
• Lake Erie Committee position on phosphorus
• Lake Erie Committee position on blue pike
  Issues relating to Lake St. Clair
  

For more information about the Lake Committee agendas, consult the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's website (www.glfc.org) or contact Marc Gaden (GLFC) at 734-662-3209 x. 14.

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