GLFC SCIENCE PROGRAM: 
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

Purpose

This site summarizes the types of projects that the commission supports. This information will be useful to project leaders interested in requesting funds from the commission. 

Introduction

The commission's science program supports Great Lakes fishery and sea lamprey research and its communication as directed by the Convention on Great Lake Fisheries, established between Canada and the United States in 1955. Commission-sponsored research is focused on meeting the information needs of the sea lamprey control program and on management aimed at achieving a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem. The commission’s research programs and themes are shaped and defined by the Strategic Vision, the Fish Community Objectives, and the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries. 

The commission funds research conducted by scientific and technical personnel in universities, in private consulting firms,and in federal, provincial, and state agencies.

Communication of research findings involves sponsorship of symposia and the publication of research in various media.

Types of Research 

Fishery Research Program – The commission supports research in the biological and social sciences to support information needs essential to achievement of a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem.  Informational needs have been organized into theme areas and research priorities. Research priorities have been established for theme areas and for each of the five Great Lakes. Funded projects typically address these priorities.

Descriptions of theme areas are available for review at the commission’s web site. Theme areas include Restoration of Native Great Lakes Fishes, Human Dimensions of Great Lakes Fisheries Management, and Ecosystem Health of Large Lakes. Also supported are projects that address the research priorities identified by lake committees, the State-of-the-Lake conferences, and the Great Lakes FIsh Health Committee. Research projects that do not fit into an existing theme area are also supported under the category of Non-theme Area Research. This provides an opportunity for researchers with highly meritorious concepts, not connected to existing theme areas, to access commission funding. Non-theme area research include topics that could develop into new theme areas. The commission’s Board of Technical Experts (BOTE) administers research funded by the Fishery Research Program. 

For information about the Fishery Research Program, go to its web page.

Sea Lamprey Research Program – Research funded through this program provides information important to decision making for the commission’s sea lamprey control program.  High-priority research projects are those relevant to the milestones identified in the Strategic Vision statement on integrated management of sea lamprey, new topics that are identified annually by the commission’s Sea Lamprey Integration Committee (SLIC), and the research priorties for each theme area of the Sea Lamprey Research Program.

Sea lamprey research is organized into broad thematic areas, and these include: Assessment; Pheromones; Barriers and Trapping; sterile males; lampricides; and non-theme area research. The Commission will also consider funding research that is not specifically identified within one of its current sea lamprey theme areas but is related to sea lamprey biology or control.

Research projects funded by the commission under this program include the role of sea lamprey pheromones in reproduction, effects of compensatory mechanisms on regulation of larval abundance, movement patterns of sea lamprey, development of alternative control measures, development of models to assist decision making, effects of lampricides on non-target organisms, and comparison of seasonal thermal niches of whitefish and lake trout (sea lamprey prey). Research funded in this area is administered by the Sea Lamprey Research Board. 

For information about the Sea Lamprey Research Program, go to its web page.

Science Transfer Program – Projects funded through the Science Transfer program promote partnerships through the communication of information about Great Lakes ecosystems and their fish communities, sea lamprey control, and emerging ecological concepts and technologies to fishery researchers and managers, to governments, and to the public. The program provides a dedicated source of funding to support the objectives and activities described in A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries and the commission’s partnership vision statement.

Science transfer projects include all forms of commission-sponsored communication related to scientific and technical information. Types of activities used to disseminate information include science-transfer and training workshops, other workshops and symposia, management objective setting, development and maintenance of lake-wide databases, development of scientific reviews, and publication of research in print, CD, and web-based media. A list of the types of projects elligible for funding through the Science Transfer Program is provided at the Science Transfer Program's web site. The commission’s Board of Technical Experts (BOTE) administers proejcts funded through the Science Transfer Program.

New Investigator Research – This category is intended to help new investigators in the basin establish research programs that focus on Great Lakes fishery issues. New investigators are defined as those individuals who have been hired into research positions in the past three years and who have not previously received commission funding. Investigators must meeet all criteria listed to qualify as a new investigator. This category of research applies to both the Fishery Research Program and the Sea Lamprey Research program.