Presentations on diving in Lake Erie, its shipwrecks and the War of 1812 are the highlights of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Blue Byway Seminar April 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Clarion Conference Center and Marina in Dunkirk, N.Y.

The $50 admission includes lunch. Walk-ins, as space allows, are $65 each. Register online or call (315) 646-1000 Ext. 203. Preregistration is requested by April 10.

Freediver Sam Genco will talk about the variety of diving, snorkeling and freediving adventures available on Lake Erie, a central part of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail region along 518 miles of freshwater shoreline in New York and Pennsylvania. He is a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captain and a former captain with Osprey Charters of Barcelona, N.Y.

Other presenters:

Erie Maritime Museum eucation pograms cordinator Linda Bolla will speak on “The Fabric of Time: Two Iconic Flags from the War of 1812,” and living history programming coordinator and U.S. Brig Niagara volunteer Ed Bolla will talk about the Battle of Lake Erie and the building of Perry’s Fleet at Erie;

Underwater explorer Jim Kennard on his discovery of the HMS Ontario, a 22-gun sloop that sank in Lake Ontario in 1780, and National Weather Service forecaster Robert Hamilton on historic weather conditions that influenced the wreck of the Ontario;

Historical archaeologist Dr. Douglas J. Pippin of the State University of New York at Oswego, with details on ship building at the British-held Fort Haldimand on Carleton Island in upstate New York;

New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism specialist Dave White on tools and apps for boaters, canoeists and kayakers based on the Great Lakes Observing System;

St. Lawrence River charter captain Jeff Garnsey on his grandfather, a rumrunner during Prohibition.

The allowable catch for walleye and yellow perch in Lake Erie has been set at lower totals than in 2012.

The Lake Erie Committee announced the total allowable catch after its meeting Thursday in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The committee includes fishery managers from Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario.

The recommended total allowable catch is 3.356 million walleye and 12.237 million pounds of yellow perch. Fishery managers said they decreased the TAC to “reflect fish hatches in recent years that have been weak.”

Total allowable catch represents the number or weight of fish recommended to be caught by sport and commercial fishers without putting the fisheries at risk.

The 2012 total allowable catch for walley was 3.487 million.

Ohio will be entitled to 1.715 million fish, Ontario to 1.445 million fish and Michigan 0.196 million fish. Limits in Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario are set separately by those jurisdictions because the majority of the walleye harvest occurs in western Lake Erie.

“Due to a series of poor year classes, the population in 2014 is expected to decliine, potentially leading to lower TACs in future years as the fish from the strong year classes age and the total size of the walleye stock decreases,” the Lake Erie Committee said in a news release. “The decreased TAC recommendation for 2013 reflects the committee’s goal to manage the lakewide fish stocks sustainably, recognizing stakeholder input.”

The yellow perch TAC is a 10 percent decrease from the 13.637 allocated in 2012. The committee said it believes “harvestable stocks are lower than last year; the TAC for 2013 reflects the committee’s consideration of the importance of relative stability of harvest.”

Pennsylvania will receive .949 million pounds of the allocation. Ontario will receive 5.969 million pounds, Ohio 4.896 million pounds, Michigan 0.164 million pounds and New York 0.259 million pounds.

The Lake Erie Committee works with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a Canadian and U.S. agency.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Phil Moy describes changes to the nature of the Great Lakes fisheries over the past quarter-century:

You’ve seen the purple traps alongside the interstates and local roads, and perhaps hanging in and around some of your favorite public lands. You probably haven’t seen the creature those traps are set out to catch.

Learn about the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that’s devastating populations of ash trees in the Great Lakes, in this video excerpt from the soon-to-debut documentary “Bad Company.”

What makes for a great Great Lakes steelhead rod? Great Lakes steelhead experts weigh in.

Matt Supinski tells Midcurrrent:

“In this sport, the rod is the single most crucial element of the sport. 10, 11, and 12 foot rods are needed (the new lightweight switch rods embodies all of this). Light-tip steelhead rods were designed from the long “noodle rods” that bait chuckers use to throw spawn bags on very light tippets. The very light tip protects the tippet from the shock of a powerful strike and run by a very aggressive and strong fighting steelhead, and the rod butt is strong enough to put a serious bend in the rod to land these fish. Also, the rod must be strong enough to throw big flies, heavy sinking-tips (Skagit lines/heads), or chuck-and-duck systems with tiny nymphs/eggs on light tippets. Also the extra length allows for greater mending and strike detection when you’re high-stick nymphing.”

Organizers set out this spring to place a series of geocaches along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, which runs 518 miles along the Pennsylvania and New York freshwater shorelines.

Now there are 64 caches in place, giving rabid geocachers one more goal to chase: Getting their geotrail logbooks validated after finding 10 caches in any of the trail’s five regions.

Read more about the geotrail, and pick up your Lake Erie Region logbook at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, 301 Peninsula Drive.

This week’s fishing report for the Erie area from Randy Leighton, western Erie county waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Erie County Conservation District scored a grant of nearly a half-million dollars from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Cascade Creek and Presque Isle Bay Watershed Restoration. Check out all the Great Lakes Restoration project funding.

Also:

• CTV: Canadian researchers say the water levels of all of the Great Lakes are at “potentially dangerous levels.”
• Toledo Blade: Ever see a Lake Erie water snake? You can only find it on the Lake Erie Islands, but it may be removed from the list of federally endangered and threatened species.
• Chatham Daily News: A rainbow smelt die-off on the Ontario side of Lake Erie is under investigation.
• Buffalo News: Is the BP oil spill in the Gule of Mexico the tilting point for advancement of wind projects on the Great Lakes?
• Chicago Tribune: Canadian gas drilling on Lake Erie gets a critical look because of the Gulf spill.