Great Lakes Science Advisory Board

The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board is a notable actor when it comes to addressing pollution in Lake Michigan and The Great Lakes overall. It can be classified as an international scientific advisory body. The primary duty of the board is to provide research to the International Joint Commission (IJC) and the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board was established as a result of The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978.

The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board has an equal number of members stationed in both Canada and the United States. The binational location of its members only makes sense as the Great Lakes are geographically positioned between the midwestern states and Canada. This team works together to provide beneficial scientific advice to the organizations described above upon referral. They provide analysis on opinions or ongoing issues with regard to the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem. The Science Advisory Board is comprised of two committees. These two committees are known as the Research Coordination Committee and the Science Priority Committee. Each committee has two chair persons who are selected by the IJC. One chair person from each committee is then selected to serve as the board chair persons. The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board aims to have an equal number of governmental and non-governmental members. The Research Coordination Committee consists of mostly government research managers whereas the Science Priority Committee consists of mostly non-governmental scientists. Other then their governmental status, the board strives to have diversity. In addition to research managers of government and non-government status, they look to recruit representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), great lakes commission, Metis and American tribes. Regardless of their status, members of the board are required to have experience in dealing with the Great Lakes environmental problems. These problems involve issues in the fields of chemistry, biology, environmental science and many more.

The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board has a number of publications within their subsection of the IJC website. These publications address a number of projects that the board has been involved with throughout the past few decades. One publication I found interesting was a report published by the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board which addressed phosphorus monitoring in the Lake Erie Basin. Below is a map produced in the report of sampling frequencies. 

Source:
http://ijc.org/files/publications/CGLRM_WorkGroupReport_PhosphorusMonitoringLakeErie_Final.pdf

There are multiple geographic scales affected by The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board. Locally, Milwaukee is affected as it resides on Lake Michigan. Regionally, individual states (midwest) and provinces of Canada are directly affected by the management of the Great Lakes. Nationally, Canada and the United States are affected respectively. Beyond the national scale, the Great Lakes even have an importance globally. The Great Lakes are the largest body of freshwater on this planet. Therefore, addressing scientific research in relation to the lakes is very important. The board is a crucial actor when it comes to managing pollution of this delicate resource. As we move toward the future, monitoring the conditions of the Great Lakes is going to become increasingly important. The Great Lakes Advisory Board serves as a useful resource of scientific researchers of both government and non-government status. The board is a prominent actor in the environmental governance of monitoring pollution in the Great Lakes watershed.