The Sea Lampreys are Coming!

Great Lakes Seminar at Inland Seas on Tuesday, March 13, 7:00 pm. 

Business end of a Sea Lamprey.  In ISEA's tank last June.

Please join us at the ISEC for a presentation by Michael Wagner, Assistant Professor and PERM Scientist at MSU, about new sea lamprey barrier methods. Check out the link below to see what Michael has been working on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxvorkIBbOo

You can visit Dr. Wagner's web site at http://www.fw.msu.edu/~mwagner/

What's Happening in Lake Michigan...Find out tonight at Inland Seas

Changes in Great Lakes Fisheries: Testing the Theory of Natural Selection

Lake Herring (R. Kinnunen Photo)

Suttons Bay, MI – The Inland Seas Education Association will present a seminar that focuses on the Great Lakes fishery at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, February 22nd, at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. The program will be presented by Randy Claramunt, Fisheries Research Biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. This seminar is free and open to the public.

The Great Lakes ecosystem is constantly changing, which has a large impact on its fishery. Claramunt will describe the special adaptations and beauty of fish that live in the Grand Traverse Bay area, including Chinook salmon, lake trout, and a native cisco thought to be extinct. He will also discuss factors that influence changes in the Great Lakes, what causes the rise and fall of salmon populations, and the future of fishing in our waters.

Randy Claramunt is a Fisheries Research Biologist from the Charlevoix Research Station of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. His interests include the design and implementation of fisheries surveys pertaining to recruitment dynamics of fishes in large freshwater ecosystems. Claramunt’s current work includes statistical analysis of survey data; catch-at-age modeling for lake trout, whitefish, and Chinook salmon; and cooperative multi-agency assessment of predator-prey interactions in Lake Michigan.

The Inland Seas Education Association is a non-profit organization based in Suttons Bay, Michigan, dedicated to science education on the Great Lakes. Its shipboard and shore-side education programs are designed to inspire young people’s interest in science and to provide for the long-term stewardship of the Great Lakes. For further information contact the Inland Seas Education Association at (231) 271-3077 or on the web at www.schoolship.org.

Fishery Towns on the Great Lakes is Next Great Lakes Seminar Topic

The Inland Seas Education Association will present a seminar that focuses on the Great Lakes fishery at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, January 11th, at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. The program will be presented by Amanda Holmes, Executive Director of the Fishtown Preservation Society. This seminar is free and open to the public.

The shores of the Great Lakes and their islands were once fringed with commercial fisheries like Leland's Fishtown, where fish were processed for the burgeoning Midwest. As it has been for over a century, Fishtown is still a commercial fishery, although on a smaller scale. Holmes will share her explorations of some of the few remaining fishing operations throughout the Great Lakes, why they have survived, and what they have taught her about the rarity of Fishtown.

Amanda Holmes has worked with the Fishtown Preservation Society for four years and serves as its Executive Director. Holmes holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife and a Certificate in Historic Preservation, both from the University of Pennsylvania. She has written numerous architectural, landscape, and engineering studies for the National Park Service, as well as published an award-winning history of Omena, Michigan. Her background in Folklore has led her to gather as many stories as possible about Fishtown, and to broaden her scope to capturing the stories of commercial fishing and fishermen from all over the Great Lakes.