The Great Lakes/Baltic Sea Partnership Program
         Fellowship Reports 1999 Program

Henn Ojaveer’s Fellowship Report

Henn Ojaveer of the Estonian Marine Institute worked with the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office on an Invasive Species problem common to the Great Lakes and the Baltic Sea. The Spiny waterflea, Cercopagis pengoi, which is native to the Ponto-Caspian region, was first found outside its natural distribution area in the Baltic Sea in 1992. Last year, the waterflea also invaded Lake Ontario.

The main goal of the fellowship research project within the Great Lakes - Baltic Sea Partnership Program was to study the spatial distribution pattern of this exotic species in Lake Ontario by estimating its abundance and biomass values.

In order to do this, a special ‘Cercopagis survey’ was conducted on board the U. S. EPA’s Research Vessel, Lake Guardian during 14-19 September 1999. The sampling program was designed to cover both shallow and deep areas in a wide regional scale. This also allowed estimation of habitat preference and variability in population parameters of the species in the lake and compares the results with those obtained during similar cruises in the Baltic Sea last year. Altogether, 24 stations were visited. In each station, deep tows from 100m (or from bottom) to surface were taken. As distribution of Cercopagis was assumed to be mainly confined to the epilimnion, this water layer was sampled separately.

Concurrent with the zooplankton sampling, seabird measurements were carried out. In order to reveal any diurnal migration patterns of the waterflea, two stations situated in the eastern and western parts of the lake were sampled four times a day at discrete depths.

Another key component of the project was the development of the length-weight relationship of Cercopagis. This is necessary for converting Cercopagis densities to correct biomass units.

Ojaveer made several presentations at both U. S. EPA, Great Lakes Program Office and at Region 5. He also presented at the pre-ASLO (American Society for Limnologists and Oceanographers) workshop on invasive species held at the University of Copenhagen in June 2000, in addition he presented at ASLO 2000 also held in Copenhagen. He is joined by other invasive species specialists in publishing an article in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, available later this year.

As a result of the fellowship, Henn Ojaveer is a member of a Baltic Sea/Great Lakes consortium network to study the effects of invasive species on both the Great Lakes and Baltic Sea ecosystems.

Jevgenij Cernihovics Fellowship Overview Report

Jevgenijs Cernihovics, Leading Specialist, Laboratory of Ecology of Daugavpils Pedagogical University, Latvia, participated in the fellowship program with Environment Canada and U.S. EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office, hosting his fellowship from October 28, 1999 until January 8, 2000.

The purpose of his study was to investigate comparisons of spatial frameworks used for environmental assessments in the water drainage basins of the Great Lakes and the Baltic Sea. Both watersheds are international in that they share borders with other countries, and they share the same process for environmental quality assessments.

Cernihovics conducted literature searches at Environment Canada, the Canada Centre for Inland Waters and the U.S. EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office. He also interviewed staff at the Indicators and Assessment Branch of Environment Canada in Ottawa and attended the organizational meeting of the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 2000 in Windsor, Ontario.

Over the fellowship period, Jevgenij studied the Canadian legal system and how it relates to protection of the Great Lakes, focusing on spatial frameworks. Similarly, he studied the US system both at the Great Lakes National Program Office and in Washington.

Mr. Cernihovics made several presentations on his Latvian experience in lake management in a series of seminars held at Environment Canada, Canada on 4 - 5, January 2000.

Follow-up as a result of the fellowship experience will include a cooperative initiative of U.S. EPA, Region 5 with Daugavpils Pedagogical University in the development of environmental education software. The initiative is designed to introduce contemporary GIS tools for environmental information management on a regional level in Latvia. The demand for this innovative approach is well recognized as Latvia is turning to watershed management on an ecosystem level.

Cernihovic’s report on spatial frameworks in environmental assessment is available via World Wide Web on http://ekollab.from.lv

Pranas Mierauskas’s Fellowship Report

Development of Ecological Risk Assessment Methods

The International Joint Commission in Windsor, Ontario hosted Pranas Mierauskas, Associate Professor, Center for Environmental Studies, Vilnius University, during his fellowship study from March 12-30, 2000. The main objectives of the Fellowship project were:

to develop of ecological risk assessment methods that quantify risks to ecosystems or single species from multiple stressors (chemical, physical or biological); to prepare a draft of the guidelines for ecological risk assessment; to exam an area - based ecological risk assessment study (selected watershed case study); and to bring ecological risk assessment knowledge to Lithuania. Key elements of the study visit were to learn ecological risk assessment methods, procedures and ecological risk management as part of integrated watershed management.

Mierauskas met with several scientists in order to further research on incorporation of technological risk assessment and management into integrated watershed management, ecological risk assessment methods and application of risk prediction models.

Presentations and meetings were held at the International Joint Commission, the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Michigan State University in East Lansing and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Windsor University. Pranas traveled to Washington to participate in the Great Lakes Commission’s Great Lakes Breakfast & Briefing, to Walpole Island to participate in the Great Lakes Research Managers Council meeting and to meet with members of the Walpole Indian Reservation, and back to East Lansing to meet with U. S. Fish and Wildlife staff. Mierauskas collected many articles and reports related to his work which will be used in his future research.

While in Washington, Mierauskas met with specialists from the National Center for Environmental Assessment.

Results of the study visit will be incorporated into Pranas’s research program and lectures for Masters students in Environmental Management at the Center for Environmental Studies, Vilnius University. Pranas would also like to offer training courses to environmental specialists (Ministry of Environment, municipalities) and military offices. Further results will be used to design ecological risk assessment guidelines for the Ministry of Environment.

Vilnius University and Durham University (UK) are interested in co-operative study to compare environmental risk management in Lithuania and in the UK.