Lake Erie shoreline anglers — those who fish from shore locations like docks and jetties instead of boats – value their fishing at an annual average of $13.5 million, a study from Ohio State University Extension, Ohio Sea Grant, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife has found. Shoreline anglers also spend an additional $1.1 million in communities near their fishing destinations on things like food, gas, and last-minute supplies.

Bright green waters, often capped with foam. Floating mats of algae washing up on the shoreline. And an invisible toxin that can cause rashes, breathing and nervous system problems, and liver damage.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) can have many negative impacts on the Lake Erie ecosystem and its economy, from deterring tourist visits to fouling drinking water. But as with most problems, being able to prepare means those impacts can be reduced or avoided altogether.

Climate change is often considered an abstract concept, affecting far-flung parts of the world like the Arctic, but not really relevant to life around the Great Lakes. However, research indicates that climate change will cause noticeable changes in the region, from changes in weather patterns to sightings of new plant and animal species.

With changing environments comes a need to educate area residents – children and adults alike – about the changes, and about the “new normal” they can expect to see in the future. Ohio State University’s Stone Lab is doing just that, with a new activity for its Lake Erie Science Field Trip Program.

Last year already saw a number of improvements at Stone Laboratory, but renovations and updates continue on South Bass and Gibraltar Islands. The newest addition to Stone Lab’s facilities will be an Algae & Water Quality Lab, housed in the Stone Lab Research Building and slated to open this summer.

“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”

Those now-famous words from Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry after the Battle of Lake Erie were written aboard the Brig Niagara, a two-mast tall ship that became the American flagship during the 1813 battle with the British fleet. But the Niagara’s claim to fame doesn’t end in the pages of history books – a replica of the ship still sails the Great Lakes today, serving as a backdrop for history lessons, sailing courses, and college classes.

On a typical fall day in Ohio, anglers line the banks of rivers like the Vermilion and the Conneaut, looking for that next great catch. Their main target is steelhead trout, a salmon relative native to the Pacific Northwest that has been introduced into Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York rivers to extend the recreational fishing season into the fall and early winter.

Dr. John Farver and Dr. Jeffrey Miner of Bowling Green State University are studying these fish, specifically their otoliths, a small bone that acts as a balancing organ and helps with hearing. Based on chemical elements incorporated into the otolith as the fish grows, the researchers are able to determine with better than 90% accuracy (100% accuracy for Ohio-stocked fish) the state hatchery in which the fish was raised, how much time the fish spent in the river once stocked, and potentially where in the lake it spent most of its life before returning to a stream to breed.

Stone Laboratory continues to build its reputation as an educational facility and as a research base, offering classes, workshops, and research space to 250 students and scientists from across the Great Lakes each year.

However, Ohio State’s Island Campus on Lake Erie also acts as Ohio Sea Grant’s outreach facility, where policy makers, journalists, and the public can learn about the lake’s role in the region’s economic and environmental health.

New materials like nanoparticles open up exciting opportunities for manufacturing companies, from construction supplies to medical innovations. But they also raise environmental concerns when they could enter rivers, streams, or the Great Lakes after their initial purpose is completed.

Dr. John Lenhart and Dr. Harold Walker of Ohio State University’s Department of Civil, Environmental, & Geodetic Engineering, along with graduate student Xuan Li, recently completed a project examining the fate of silver nanoparticles, often used in commercial products because silver acts as an effective antimicrobial agent. When those particles enter natural waters, such as rivers or a Great Lake, the silver can either aggregate (or clump together) and settle into the sediment, where it would affect bottom-dwelling organisms; or it can stay suspended in the water column, where it would slowly dissolve and release toxic silver ions into the water.

Phosphorus is almost always at the forefront of concerns about the health of Lake Erie and its tributaries. Watershed managers never stop searching for ways to reduce phosphorus input into the ecosystem, but they also need to be able to monitor those nutrient levels easily and cost-effectively to report on their progress and address worsening conditions as soon as possible.

It’s a beautiful fall day on the Toussaint River, just south of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on the Lake Erie shore. Along both riverbanks, farm fields attest to western Ohio’s agricultural roots, and on the water, the passengers of a metal boat, clad in heavy rubber waders, boots, and gloves, seem to be setting up for a mad science experiment.

The 5th graders watch intently as two of their fellow students pull in the trawling net. This is the moment they had been waiting for, the part of today’s trip they had begun asking about two hours earlier. The students crowd around the metal basin holding their catch, touching the slippery fish, yelling when one of the fish jumps, and taking photos with their phones.

It’s pretty difficult for an indoor class to match this level of excitement.

“This is one of those Stone Lab experiences that I can’t replicate in the classroom,” says their teacher, Robin Sneed.