Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Technoscience Webinars

This webinar series aims to provide fishery managers and biologists with information on cutting-edge technology, associated scientific methods, potential applications for fisheries management and assessment, and logistical considerations.

What is 'technoscience?'

'Technoscience' is defined as "…how science informs and enables technology, and how technology enables science—all within the context of iterative societal feedbacks" (Cooke et al. 2022). The technoscience webinar series sets technology in the context of society and fosters two-way dialogue between researchers and decision-makers to help move technology into use.

Learn more: S.J. Cooke, M.F. Docker, N.E. Mandrak, N. Young, D.D. Heath, K.M. Jeffries, A. Howarth, J.W. Brownscombe, J. Livernois, C.A.D. Semeniuk, P.A. Venturelli, A.J. Danylchuk, R.J. Lennox, I. Jarić, A.T. Fisk, C.S. Vandergoot, J.R. Britton, and A.M. Muir. 2022. Technoscience and the modernization of freshwater fisheries assessment and management. Environmental Technology & Innovation, Volume 28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102865

Why a webinar series?

Technology develops and changes rapidly, and fishery decision-makers are busy people. This pilot series of six, monthly webinars will help fishery managers stay abreast of technological developments in an accessible and convenient way and will encourage discussions around practical considerations for applying technoscience to management. Our goal is to develop a community of practice around technoscience in fisheries management that will persist beyond the original series of webinars, and to identify promising technoscience innovations that might benefit from focused efforts to operationalize their use in fishery management and assessment.

Join us!

Fill out this form to be added to the mailing list to receive announcements regarding future webinars.

Upcoming webinars

  • Thursday, April 3rd, 2:00-3:00pm EDT: Practical Tools for eDNA

    Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aM6eNcPsTi2gi25PRF03aw

    Speakers:

    • Dr. Margaret Docker, University of Manitoba. "Improving environmental DNA (eDNA) reliability for resource management."
      • Environmental DNA (eDNA) is increasingly being used as a tool for fisheries management and the detection of invasive species. However, this technology is relatively new, rapidly evolving, and highly sensitive. Multiple challenges present themselves in the implementation of eDNA in resource management: the method is highly sensitive and can detect eDNA even when a live animal is not present; collection/processing contamination can occur; and data standards and reporting requirements have only recently been developed, and can be difficult to interpret for non-specialists. Managers have been understandably reluctant to rely on eDNA detections, or have taken inappropriate management actions that were driven by these challenges with understanding and interpreting eDNA results. To help address this, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Science Transfer Program supported the development of an evidence-based decision-support tool that walks users through each step of data collection, analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of eDNA results. We will demonstrate how the web-based checklist a) integrates information from existing data standards and guidance documents, b) directs users to relevant source materials when specific considerations or reporting recommendations have not been met, c) provides users with information to request from eDNA labs, and d) helps managers interpret the reliability of reported eDNA results. We will also describe how this and other science transfer tools have increased the value, communication, and interpretation of eDNA as an early detection tool.
    • Jeff Tyson, Great Lakes Fishery Commission. "A Case Study: Applying eDNA Decision Support Tools to Improve Interpretation."
      • Environmental DNA (eDNA) is being used extensively across the Great Lakes basin and beyond as a tool for detecting invasive species, as well as species in low abundance. One of the challenges associated with eDNA as a tool is interpretation of results. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Science Transfer Program has developed several decision support tools to help fisheries management agencies and processing labs with interpretation of results. Two tools, "Improving eDNA Reliability for Resource Management" and "Positive eDNA Management Support Tree" were applied in 2023 to an eDNA case study on sea lamprey in the Huron River, Michigan. We will discuss the application, challenges, and value of the Science Transfer Program tools for informing eDNA reliability, interpretation, and communication.

Past webinars

  • Real-time observing systems

    Recording: https://youtu.be/qaaqtHEZYOg

    Date: February 13th, 2025

    Speakers:

    • Dr. Shelby Brunner, Dr. Jennifer Boehme, Great Lakes Observing System. "GLOS: A nexus of real-time information for multinational users"
      • Observations are essential to understanding the current state of the ecosystem, enabling direct measurements, future comparisons, and inclusion in models for validation purposes. Significant advances in real-time observation technologies and their applications have been made over the last 5 to 10 years, and GLOS has played a key role in the expansion of the Great Lakes observation system enterprise. The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) offers centralized access to real-time observations in and around the Great Lakes, serving diverse user needs and connecting Great Lakes communities and ecosystems. GLOS' data platform, Seagull, was launched in 2022 and specifically designed to prioritize the end user experience. We will highlight the existing real-time observing network and the data sharing platform supported by GLOS along with future plans related to ecosystem and fisheries management to support a resilient Great Lakes.
    • Dr. Aaron Fisk, Katelynn Johnson, Rylie Robinson, Todd Leadley and Lydia Paulic, Realtime Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON), University of Windsor. "Simultaneous detection of fish and collection of environmental data in the Great Lakes"
      • The Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System (GLATOS) has revolutionized our understanding of fish movement and behaviour in the Great Lakes. As GLATOS expands to all corners of the world's largest freshwater ecosystem and to fish species large and small, there is the opportunity to understand how environmental conditions influence fish ecology that will ultimately improve fish management and conservation. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and novel buoys now provide simultaneous measurement of environmental data and acoustically tagged fish in the Great Lakes. This seminar will highlight recent research in Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario that demonstrate the potential of AUVs and buoys to quantify environmental conditions associated with fish detections and better identify the drivers of fish movement in the Great Lakes.

  • Autonomous vehicles

    Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcyhkck7vvQ

    Date: January 16th, 2025

    Speakers:

    • Dr. Xiaobo Tan, Michigan State University. "Autonomous Surface Vehicles for Fish Tracking: Promise, Challenges, and Outlook"
      • Acoustic telemetry has become a valuable tool in fishery research in the Great Lakes and elsewhere. In acoustic telemetry, animals are tagged with acoustic transmitters and their movements are tracked by hydrophones or acoustic receivers that can identify tagged animals in their vicinity. Current practice of acoustic telemetry predominantly uses stationary receivers, which often pose limitations in tracking range, result in latency in data access, and present other logistical challenges. Mobile acoustic telemetry, where acoustic receivers are mounted on robotic platforms, offers an appealing, complementary solution. However, these underwater platforms, such as underwater gliders and propeller-driven autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), are typically costly and require special expertise to operate. In this talk we discuss autonomous surface vehicles as a promising cost-effective and user-friendly solution to mobile telemetry. We present findings on their tag-detection performance from field experiments conducted on Hammond Bay, Lake Huron, and explore future directions of technology advancement to support fishery science and management. We will also share thoughts on democratizing the technology to make it a readily accessible tool for fishery researchers and managers.
    • Dr. Peter Esselman, U.S. Geological Survey. "Recent applications of aquatic drones to Great Lakes fisheries assessment and their potential for the future"
      • For the past five years, underwater and surface water drones have been evaluated by researchers for their ability to measure fish abundances and habitat conditions in the Great Lakes. This presentation summarizes lessons learned from use of (1) uncrewed surface vehicles (Saildrone), (2) long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (LRAUVs), and (3) short-range autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in assessment of pelagic and benthic prey fish abundances. Data quality, logistical ease, cost, technical readiness, and potential for future use are explored for each technology.

This project is supported by the Science Transfer Program.