GREAT OUTDOORS: UT's Lake Erie Center dedicates new boat

The University of Toledo's Lake Erie Center, located on Maumee Bay, held a ceremony May 10 to formally unveil its new research boat, named the R/V Spangler, in honor of the late Captain Dave Spangler. A well-known and respected Lake Erie advocate, Spangler spent thousands of hours attending and making presentations at scientific and policy meetings concerning Lake Erie and Great Lakes issues. Formerly the president of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association and Lake Erie Waterkeepers, Spangler often traveled to Columbus and Washington to stress to elected officials the need to address harmful algal blooms, water quality and fisheries-related issues. Captain Spangler often donated his time and the service of his boat to take elected officials, researchers, media and others onto the lake to gain a first-hand look to better understand the extent of the HAB problem. He also helped to organize a fleet of fellow captains that continues to provide algae researchers with water samples and water quality readings from a wide area of the lake to better document the timing, breadth and toxicity of each season's HAB. The 21-foot Parker boat will allow researchers to trailer it to launch ramps close to a wider range of sampling sites of interest and into shallower locations too deep for their other boats. Projects underway this season include water quality assessment; determining the effects of road salt run-off on the aquatic community; harmful algal bloom monitoring; invasive grass carp removal and reproduction documentation; native fish species restoration; and evaluation of wetlands health. "The R/V Spangler will expand our ability to conduct research that advances understanding of Great Lakes ecology, informs public policy and prepares the next generation of scientists to face tomorrow's challenges," said Dr. Thomas Bridgeman, professor of ecology and Director of the LEC. Spangler's widow, Kathy "Kady" Lerch, helped christen the vessel by dousing the boat with champagne at the public ceremony. She expressed her pride of her husband's work and was honored that the university would extend Dave's legacy by naming the boat after him. The Women & Philanthropy group at the University of Toledo helped with the purchase of the vessel with a $50,000 grant. Meanwhile, Stone Laboratory continues its work on Lake Erie water snake population surveys, atmospheric mercury monitoring and better understanding what Justin Chaffin, director of research, calls the cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHAB). Remote data buoys are being used to monitor blue-green algal biomass and toxicity and the driving forces behind benthic (bottom) algal blooms. They also have experiments planned in their mesocosm tanks housed next to the former Put-in-Bay State Fish Hatchery, now called the Aquatic Education Center. Some include smallmouth bass/round goby/dissolved oxygen trials, the effectiveness of algaecides and their impact on non-target plankton species. OSU's Stone Lab research continues At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 12, there will be a showing of a documentary called The Erie Situation at the Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant Street. This film "explores the confluence of science, public sentiment, politics and the powerful farming lobby as Ohio wrestles with how to confront the drivers of toxic algae" in Lake Erie. I had a chance to preview the film some time ago and it makes a strong argument that the Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations have much to do with the chronic nutrient overloading into the Maumee River watershed that produces huge Western Lake Erie harmful algal blooms. Despite Ohio's pledge to reduce phosphorus loading by 40% by 2025, no measurable reductions have occurred, despite a strong response from regional row crop farmers. Meanwhile, the number of permitted and unregulated concentrated animal feedlots have skyrocketed in the northwest portion of the state, depositing raw livestock waste onto fields in quantities equivalent to the untreated sewage from several large cities combined. Tens of millions of dollars are being spent on doing everything but looking at these obvious nutrient contributors introduced here by foreign operators who had stricter environmental regulations overseas than in the U.S.