Public to get update on yellow perch decline

The public will get a chance to quiz scientists about the 10-year-old decline of yellow perch in Lake Michigan at a special daylong conference to be held Saturday, June 12, in Racine.

The conference is sponsored by the SC Johnson Wax Fund and was organized by Fred Binkowski, senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin Great Lakes Water Institute at Milwaukee. The UW-Madison Sea Grant Institute funds Binkowski’s work.

“We wanted to link science to the primary stakeholders – the sport fishing community, commercial fishing groups, and devotees of the Friday night fish fry,” Binkowski said. “We designed the conference to be very interactive to provide the best mechanism of communicating science to the public. We hope to answer everyone’s questions about the yellow perch decline.”

The conference begins at 8 a.m. in the SC Johnson Golden Rondelle Theater, 1525 Howe St., Racine. Registration in advance by calling (414) 260-2154.

In the morning sessions, Sea Grant researchers and natural resource managers from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan will present their findings and answer questions. In the afternoon session, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an interactive workshop including demonstrations and displays of field sampling gear such as Neuston nets, beach seines, bottom trawls, plankton nets, and light traps.

Laboratory research equipment and resource materials will be available to examine and discuss with scientists. These include experimental tanks, otolith bones (taken from a fish’s ears to determine its age), perch eggs, perch sac-fry and larvae, and plankton.

The SC Johnson Wax Fund is the philanthropic investment arm of SC Johnson, a 113-year-old family-owned, family- managed company with worldwide headquarters in Racine. Since 1992, SC Johnson has received over 40 awards from government, environmental, and consumer organizations for its international corporate environmental leadership. SC Johnson is one of the world’s leading providers of quality household cleaning, maintenance and home storage products in over 100 countries around the world.

Created in 1966, Sea Grant is a national network of 29 university-based programs of research, outreach, and education dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of the United States’ coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes resources. The National Sea Grant Network is a partnership of participating coastal states, private industry, and the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.