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.

Volunteer to help the Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Jamestown, N.Y., clean up its grounds April 20 for another season of activities.

Volunteers can choose their work crew activity: to pull non-native plants, plant native seeds and shrubs, spruce up the gardens, pick up trash as part and possibly more.

Work will go on rain or shine, so dress for the weather and pack work gloves if you have them. Lunch will be provided to all volunteers.

Reservations are required by April 17 (call 716-569-2345 after that date).

Registration April 20 runs from 8:30-9 a.m., when work crews will be selected. Work goes from 9:30 a.m. to noon, followed by lunch and prizes.

More than 80 people turned out for the first Volunteer Day in 2012.

Learn about the state of Lake Erie during a free public meeting April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Southtowns Walleye Association club house, 5895 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, NY., about 90 minutes from Erie on Interstate 90.

The meeting is put on by New York Sea Grant, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York state Assemblyman Sean Ryan and the Southtowns Walleye Association.

Presentations will address the status of the warmwater fish community, with NYSDEC Lake Erie Unit leader Don Einhouse; status of the coldwater fish Ccmmunity, with NYSDEC Senior Fishery Biologist Jim Markham; the New Western New York Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management, with Dr. Christopher Pennuto of Buffalo State College; and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program update from fishery biologist Denise L. Clay.

For information, call New York Sea Grant Coastal Education Specialist Helen Domske at (716) 645-3610.

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.

Think the winter ski season is over? Think again, says Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman. Peek’n Peak and the other western New York resorts are at or near full operation.

Join Evergreen Outfitters for its final snowshoe hike of the winter March at 10 a.m. on the Overland Trail near Panama, N.Y.

Meet at Evergreen Outfitters, 4845 Route 474, Ashville, NY — about 50 minutes from Erie — and carpool to the Panama trailhead off Route 474. Hikers will heard northwest for about an hour, then turn around and hike back to the parking area.

Cost is $15 for those who need to rent snowshoes and poles, and $5 for those who have their own equipment. Reservations are required; call (716) 763-2266.

Wednesday’s lake-effect snow might not have been great news for those with long driveways to shovel, but skiers and resorts in western New York have plenty of reason to be excited.

Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman, drops in with great forecasts for Peek’n Peak, Holiday Valley, Swain, HoliMont and elsewhere in his weekly video report:

The New York State Ice Pro-Am Series ice-fishing tournament scheduled for Friday through Sunday on Chautauqua Lake has been canceled.

Series officials said they talked with Chautauqua County tourism, visitors bureau and law enforcement officials and unanimously decided to cancel the event because of ice conditions deemed unsafe.

The statement from the NYS Ice Pro-Am Series: “We need a solid 4 (inches) of safe ice across the entire waterway we are fishing, which is not found on Chautauqua Lake at this point. There are fishable areas with up to 6 (inches) of ice, but it would be impossible for us to safely outline each area for our anglers. The current temperature forecast is also not conducive to enough ice building, and will likely just maintain the current ice in place.”

Registered teams were to be contacted about their options.

Evergreen Outfitters will offer its annual kayak roll classes starting Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.  at Chautauqua Health and Fitness Center, Route 394, Chautauqua, N.Y.

Classes are non-sequential — it’s not necessary to attend every session — and continue every Tuesday night through February and March. Cost is $15 per session, and includes boat, paddle, spray skirt, and one-on-one instruction.

Spots are limited. Reserve your spot or ask questions by calling (716) 763-2266 or visiting the outfitter shop at 4845 Route 474, Ashville, N.Y.

Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel will host more than 200 of the top snowmobile racers from North America and nearly a dozen countries worldwide for the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series Feb. 22-24.

The casino in Salamanca, N.Y., said crews will turn 1 million gallons of water into snow over a football-field-sized plot of land at Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel to create tracks with wicked twists and turns, as well as ramps that will send vehicles flying dozens of feet into the air. The weekend is one eight nationally televised events on CBS Sports Network.

Tickets are on sale at the Logo Shop inside Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel and online at www.isocracing.com. Ticket prices are $25 for Feb. 22, $25 for Feb. 23, $15 for Feb. 24, or $30 for an all-weekend pass. Admission is free for children 6 and younger.

Bleachers set up around the track can accommodate thousands of fans, and bright lights will illuminate the track during evening hours Feb. 22-23, when the main events are scheduled to take place and to be recorded for television replay March 10 and March 17.

Some 50 practice, qualifying, and final races will take place each of the three days, including 22 races Friday and Saturday nights. Amateur racing takes place in the afternoons, culminating in a major race Sunday. As many as 15 vehicles will be on the track during a race, and individual races are broken down by age, gender, and snowmobile type.