I went down to the beach across the road this morning and was surprised to see a rather large vessel in Severn Sound. The MarineTraffic app on my phone told me it was USEPA Lake Guardian, a 53-m research vessel of the US Environmental Protection Agency. According to the EPA, the Lake Guardian is conducting its fortieth annual tour of the Great Lakes, gathering samples. “The Lake Guardian conducts sampling surveys on all five Great Lakes in the spring, when the water is cold and well-mixed, and in the summer, when the surface waters are warm and the lakes are stratified. Samples of water, sediment and lower food-web organisms are collected at designated stations throughout Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Superior. Since 1983, the surveys have provided the only existing set of data with 40 years-worth of water quality sampling information across all five Great Lakes. This dataset helps EPA identify Great Lakes ecosystem trends over the 40-year timeframe.”
Wild Great Lakes 
Fantastic web site! I was very pleased to see the summary of the 1997 case law wherein Will won the court case in Parry Sound over that debacle in Echo Bay. What I didn’t realize was the fact the Ontario provincial government appealed the decision and lost in 1999 – good thing!!! I have been sailing GB and the NC for 38 years and really appreciate your efforts to promote sustainable management of the GB waterways and beyond.