Create a "Lake Erie Shipwreck Center" to be housed at the Inland Seas Museum of the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermilion, Ohio.
Develop and/or acquire appropriate software and published materials for creating and displaying Lake Erie shipwreck information to be available at the Center.
Establish educational opportunities which focus on the underwater cultural resources of Lake Erie to be offered in conjunction with the Center.

The past decade has been a remarkable improvement in the clarity of Lake Erie waters. In the Islands Region, typical underwater visibility was under three feet in the 1980s. Today, it is not unusual to observe submerged objects at a distance of 10 to 20 feet. As the waters have become clearer and clearer, recreational divers have taken to the lake in greater and greater numbers. Underwater exploration has become a popular sport for local divers as well as attracting the attention of the diving community throughout the Great Lakes and beyond. The lure of the hundreds of shipwrecks, many of them yet to be explored, has heightened the participation in Lake Erie diving. However, in a quest for more information about shipwrecks, divers are often frustrated by a dearth of published materials and the lack of a convenient place where Lake Erie shipwreck information is readily available to all wanting to learn more about Lake Erie shipwrecks and the cultural/historical significance of these vessels. This proposal seeks funds to create, equip, and operate a Lake Erie Shipwreck Center where the informational needs of underwater explorers and others interested in Ohio's maritime heritage can be satisified.

This proposal seeks support for the development of critical GIS software for computerized displays of Lake Erie Shipwreck Data and the acquisition of existing software and published materials relative to Lake Erie shipwrecks. This project will build on a recently completed, Sea Grant supported Lake Erie GIS development project. The Shipwreck Center GIS project will extend the data base by inclusion of shipwreck information. Specifically the project will involve the operation of GIS shipwreck locational and characteristics data layers from a number of data sources. The data layers will be created on ArcInfo format for installation on a computer station with ArcView 3.1 at the Old Woman Creek Estuarine Research Reserve visitor's center. The project will also involve transferring certain relative data layers on Lake Erie features to the visitor's center from various NOAA and ODNR sources.

Anticipated Benefits:

1. The activities of the Center will promote stewardship and protection of Lake Erie shipwrecks.
2. The Center will enhance wise-use tourism and recreational opportunities along the Lake Erie shoreline and on the lake's shipwrecks.
3. The Center will open new research avenues that will assist in the process of inventory/documentation of Ohio's shipwrecks and thereby add to our knowledge of Great Lakes maritime and culture.