Fred Snyder, Case Studies

1. Ohio Charter Captains Conference

Charter fishing is big business along Ohio's Lake Erie coast, but it is buffeted by challenges ranging from fluctuating fish populations to increased regulation and from ever-increasing technology to downward demographics. Ohio Sea Grant Extension is working to ensure that this industry stays in the black.

2. Boosting Fisheries Education on Lake Erie

Recreational fishing is one of Ohio's largest Lake Erie industries, with a value variously estimated at about $750 million per year. But as with many other Lake Erie industries, the fishery is undergoing a decline that stems from several sources -a trend that must be reversed. Ohio Sea Grant's Fisheries Extension Enhancement program (FEE) is meeting this challenge head-on.

3. Buffer Strips Improve Lake Erie Water Quality

Reducing pollution in Lake Erie means making sacrifices, right? Well, not always. Phosphorus pollution and sediment runoff into Lake Erie are being reduced, and as a result, farmers are making more money. Wildlife and fish are gaining new habitat. Annual harbor dredging costs are dropping. Valuable topsoil is staying on farms to help feed a growing world. And perhaps best of all, Lake Erie water quality is being improved.

4. The Lake Erie Discussion Board

Lake Erie resource users entered the information age over the last decade, with a profusion of advertising web pages, on line advice columns, fishing reports, chat sites, and more. But information requests posted on the Internet draw responses of varying quality, leaving serious posters searching for credible information sources. The Ohio Sea Grant Lake Erie Discussion Board (www.sg.ohio-state.edu/discus) came on line to fill this need

5. Port Clinton Transient Municipal Marina

Modern marina facilities are business anchors for many Great Lakes coastal cities-waterfront focal points that draw extensive boating traffic and attract local businesses to serve those boaters. The city of Port Clinton, Ohio has a premiere location on western Lake Erie but inadequate marina facilities near its downtown. Transient Great Lakes boater traffic has tended to skip by Port Clinton, but soon, that will no longer be the case. A $9.5 million, 161-boat slip transient marina is on the way.