Mike Goehle discusses the Service's Erie Canal Prevention Program to teachers at the Spencerport workshop held in July. (Photo: Denise Clay/USFWS)

NY Sea Grant Coastal Education Specialist, Helen Domske, shows some of the fish collected during the USFWS electrofishing demonstration. (Photo: Denise Clay/USFWS)

Educators at the August 21 workshop in Lockport, NY. (Photo: Denise Clay/USFWS)

The Lower Great Lakes Fishery Resources Office (LGLFRO) and New York Sea Grant (NYSG) hosted three "Educators and the Erie Canal" workshops to highlight the role of the canal as a vector for aquatic invasive species (AIS).  Regional AIS Coordinator, Mike Goehle and Biological Technicians, Denise Clay, and Vanessa Pereira worked with Helen Domske, of NYSG to conduct one workshop in Spencerport, NY (7/24) and two workshops in Lockport, NY (8/20 and 8/21).  These workshops focused on the history and construction of the New York State Canal System (NYSCS), life histories of prominent AIS, as well as vectors for spread and introduction of AIS between waters of the Great Lakes basin and New York State.  LGLFRO staff also demonstrated how they survey the NYSCS for AIS using boat electrofishing.  Fish collected were used to facilitate fish identification and life history discussions.  In total, 52 science educators from western New York took the training.  These workshops provide educators with AIS information that can easily be infused into their strict state science curricula to help improve AIS education for students.