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Erie, PA, June 16, 2014 - As seen in this clip from WICU-TV (a Erie, PA NBC-affiliate station) and WSEE-TV (a Erie, PA CBS-affiliate station), some 85 representatives from around the Great Lakes are networking in Erie this week, as part of the Great Lakes Sea Grant network conference. The group has meetings like this about every 18 months around the basin of the lakes. It's a chance to collaborate face to face on common issues of concern around the great lakes in both the U.S. and Canada. The representatives are talking about maintaining water quality for people and aquatic life. They're sharing data from observation systems around the lakes, including the new weather buoy recently deployed off Erie. The Sea Grant conference is also sharing the latest information on the harmful algae blooms that cropped up around the lakes last year. "This is about the time we saw that last year," said Marti Martz, Sr. Coastal Outreach Specialist with Pennsylvania Sea Grant's office at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. "June 26 we had the first reports of that last year, but this year we're far more ready, we've developed protocols for monitoring and testing so we're much more ready for it this year," Martz added. Lake Erie is especially susceptible because it is shallow and because of the run off of nutrients from farms. "This is an issue that effects all the Great Lakes and it has fairly serious implications for human and animal health as well as coastal economies," say New York Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist Dave MacNeill, who hosted several harmful algal bloom workshops over the last year, including one with Pennsylvania Sea Grant. For more on that, see NYSG's news item "On YouTube, On Blog: NYSG Harmful Algal Bloom Workshops a Model for Helping Great Lakes Stakeholders," http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/articles/r/2486. Attendees are also sharing information on how to keep boaters from moving aquatic invasive species from lake to lake or to inland waterways. The big concerns are zebra and quagga mussels, round gobies, spiny water fleas and the much discussed Asian Carp. Sarah Whitney, Associate Director of the Susquehanna River PA Sea Grant Office said there are steps boaters can take to help. "The big key pieces are to check drain and dry. Check around your boat and trailer for any clumps of organic material you may be carrying, drain bilge water, buckets...we want to keep any water where it is. And drying your equipment up to five days, that will prevent species from being moved from one location to another," said Whitney. "Three things I like to remind people about are: having the right type of life jacket, the right number -- one for everyone on board -- and the right size, whether it be an adult, child or pet, such as a dog," added Dave White, senior extension associate with New York Sea Grant Extension and NYSG's coastal recreation and tourism specialist. White is also the campaign developer for the "Discover Clean & Safe Boating" project, which is detailed in NYSG's news item, "On YouTube, On Air: Sea Grant Partners to Discover a Bigger, Better Boating Education Program," http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/articles/r/2453. In addition to extension specialists and funded researchers, Sea Grant also has a national network of Communications specialists, a number of whom are in attendance from throughout the Great Lakes Sea Grant programs. "A big part of our convening as a region here is to discuss ways we might most effectively communicate coastal science to the greater public," said New York Sea Grant's Web Content Manager Paul C. Focazio. He cited that target audiences include anglers and boaters as well as legislators and partners, especially those higher up the chain of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea Grant's parent organization. "So, while we're discussing our efforts related to everything from this year's hurricane outlook to harmful algal blooms in Lakes Erie and Ontario, we're making a point to identify which platforms might be the best ways to spread the word. We're finding sometimes that's via social media and web-based platforms and other times through more traditional avenues, such as radio, television and, yes, the printed word." The Sea Grant folks will be in town through Wednesday.