EPA GLNPO Great Lakes monitoring program

Jim Watkins, Lars Rudstam, Toby Holda, Sarah Lawhun, Kayden Nasworthy, Joe Connolly, Chris Marshall, Taylor Herne, Lucy Weisbeck, Connor Hannig, Kristen Holeck (CBFS), Alexander Karatayev, Lyubov Burlakova, Susan Daniel, and Nik Barulin (SUNY Buffalo State). (Funded by US EPA Region 5 Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, IL)

In 2025 we continued to work with the benthic team of SUNY Buffalo State and the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office to monitor zooplankton, mysids, and benthos for all five Great Lakes. This program is funded through 2027. Sampling in 2025 was smooth with successful sampling of all five Great Lakes in April and August by the R/V Lake Guardian. The annual collaborator meeting with GLNPO was virtual in April. Lower foodweb data for Lake Ontario was presented virtually by Watkins at the March 2025 Great Lakes Fishery Commission Lake Meetings. Watkins and Rudstam finalized reports for offshore zooplankton and a new mysid indicator for the State of the Great Lakes 2025 Report.  Time series of zooplankton, mysids, and benthos were all updated up to 2024.