Environmental experts say funding is at stake for an important program that protects the Great Lakes.
Nick Sard, an associate professor of Great Lakes biology at SUNY Oswego, said federal cuts are already taking a toll on U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research. And he calls the possible elimination of the agency’s Ecosystems Mission Area, or EMA, “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
"Investing in USGS science, the science that leads to prey fish surveys in Lake Ontario, is preventative maintenance,” Sard said. “It's an insurance policy for our invaluable Great Lakes."
Sard said the EMA conducts critical research along Lake Ontario and other locations to assess the health of ecosystems, food sources for sport fish like salmon, and emerging threats.
He said the work is highly technical and time sensitive in specific locations, so any disruption in funding could not be easily replaced by other sources.
"Lake Ontario borders Canada,” he said. “It literally is split in half between Canada and the U.S., and because it is not in a single state's jurisdiction, and because it shares a border with Canada, this warrants a federal presence."
He said he’s hopeful people who value the Great Lakes will reach out to their federal representatives with their concerns, to protect both the multi-billion dollar fishing industry and a valuable natural resource.
"It's obvious that the salmon and trout fisheries here in Lake Ontario are an essential element to our heritage, to our economies, and we need to do everything we can to preserve those."
