Great
Lakes
National
Program
On the Web at:
www.epa.gov/greatlakes
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO)
Significant Activities Report
February 2005
IN THIS ISSUE:
• Fish Monitoring Program Re-
viewed
• A Superior Mercury Reduction
Plan
• SOLEC Site Expanded, Re-
vamped
Fish Monitoring Program Reviewed
GLNPO held a program review for the Great
Lakes Fish Monitoring Program in Chicago
on February 7th and 8th. About 40 representa-
tives including government and university
scientists, federal and State government man-
agers, and Tribal representatives met to dis-
cuss the program's successes and problems.
The program review consisted of two sepa-
rate groups of panel members: a discussion
group that included all attendees, and a re-
view panel that consisted of a select group of
experts. Both groups issued recommenda-
tions ranging from the revision of the current
analyte list to revised laboratory procedures.
However, the review panel summarized all
the information and issued 10 specific rec-
ommendations to GLNPO management. A
report on the meeting and the accompanying
panel recommendations will be widely circu-
lated for comment as soon as it is completed
(expected in Summer 2005).
Information on the methods used in the Great
Lakes Fish Monitoring Program can be found
in its Draft Quality Quality Assurance Pro-
ject Plan (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
glindicators/fishtoxics/
Walleye are the top predator fish for Lake Erie in
GLNPO's Open Lake Trends Monitoring Program
GLFMP_QAPP_082504.pdf).
(Contact: Beth Murphy, 312-353-4227, mur-
phy.elizabeth@epa.gov)
A Superior Mercury Reduction Plan
The Lake Superior Workgroup (part of the
Lake Superior Binational Partnership) has
put together a draft basin-wide mercury re-
duction project. The Plan was an action item
from a September 2004 meeting of the Lake
Superior Workgroup, Forum, Industry and
Task Force. This plan envisions setting up
peer-to-peer mentoring opportunities to link
The Cascade River on Lake Superior's North Shore
in Minnesota
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February 2005
Significant Activities Report
industries and local governments who have
not yet done mercury phase-outs with those
who already have. The primary focus of the
plan will be on the shipping industry and
local industrial and government facilities.
Other components of the mercury reduction
plan include mercury and household hazard-
ous waste clean sweeps and collection
events, and preparing a binational guide ad-
vising industrial and government facilities
about mercury bearing devices.
(Contact: Elizabeth LaPlante, 353-2694,
laplante.elizabeth@epa.gov)
SOLEC Site Expanded, Revamped
In an effort to consolidate and make avail-
able all that is SOLEC (State of the Lakes
Ecosystem Conference), GLNPO's SOLEC
site (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/index.
html) has been reorganized and greatly ex-
panded. The revamped SOLEC site will
contain everything from agendas and press
releases to the many background papers
produced. Documents from the first
SOLEC in 1994 to the present will be avail-
able on the site.
The SOLEC conferences are hosted by the
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and
Environment Canada on behalf of the two
Countries every two years in response to the
binational Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement. The conferences provide a fo-
rum for the exchange of information on the
ecological condition of the Great Lakes and
surrounding lands. A major purpose of this
is to reach a large audience of people in the
government (at all levels), as well as corpo-
rate and not-for-profit sectors who make de-
cisions that affect the lakes.
SOLEC conferences are held every two
years in even numbered years. These con-
ferences are the focal point and culmination
State of the Great Lakes
Annual Report
200, - ,
Cover of the 2001 State of the Great Lakes report,
one of the collection of SOLEC documents on the
revamped and expanded SOLEC Web Site at:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/index.html
of a process of gathering information from a
wide variety of sources and engaging a vari-
ety of organizations in bringing it together.
In the year following each conference the
Governments have prepared a report on the
state of the Lakes based in large part upon
the SOLEC conference process.
The SOLEC process views the ecosystem in
terms of the state or "health" of the living
system and its underlying physical, chemi-
cal and biological components. Human
health is considered to be part of the living
system. SOLEC conferences are intended to
focus on the state of the Great Lakes eco-
system and the major factors impacting it
rather than the status of programs needed
for its protection and restoration.
Page 2
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
February 2005
Visit SOLEC online at: http://www.epa.
gov/glnpo/solec/index.html
(Contact: Deborah Lamberty, 312-886-
6681, lamberty.deborah@epa.gov)
Upcoming Events
April 22
May 1711
rd
May 23ra-27'
June 9th-! 1th
July 7th-8th
2005
Earth Day
Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy Stakeholder
Forum, Toronto, ON Canada
Conference on Great Lakes
Research, Ann Arbor, MI
International Joint Commis-
sion 2005 Biennial Meeting
and Great Lakes Confer-
ence, Kingston, Ontario
Great Lakes Regional Col-
laboration Summit I, Duluth,
Minnesota
November 2nd- State of Lake Michigan
Conference, Green Bay,
Wisconsin
/ith
We welcome your questions, comments or
suggestions about this month's Significant
Activities Report. To be added to or re-
moved from the Email distribution of the
Significant Activities Report, please contact
Tony Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773,
kizlauskas.anthony@epa.gov.
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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