SIDNEY — Ohio Sea Grant Director Dr. Christopher Winslow addressed the Rotary Club of Sidney, recently.

Winslow is the director of the Ohio Sea Grant Program, a part of the Ohio State University, operating fromn a facility on Gibraltar Island in Lake Erie.

“For more than 30 years, Ohio Sea Grant has worked to protect the environment of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes,” Winslow told the Rotarians.

Ohio Sea Grant’s education and outreach facility, Stone Lab, on Lake Erie serves scientists from across the Great Lakes region offers lab facilities, field work equipment, research vessels and housing for researchers studying Lake Erie.

“Together, Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab provide the science behind informed policy and management decisions on science education, the Lake Erie ecosystem and its economic impact on the region,” Winslow said. “Tourism in Ohio is a $40 billion industry. If we were to just look at the eight Ohio counties that touch Lake Erie, tourism from just those eight counties accounts for 30 percent of that total. In fact, one in eight jobs in those eight counties is tied to tourism.”

“Lake Erie is the 11th largest lake on Earth by surface area,” according to Dr. Winslow.

He then discussed the problem of runoff and the resultant algae blooms in the lake and the need for funding to support research.