This story originally appeared on Great Lakes Today and is republished here with permission.
By Elizabeth Miller • FEB 20, 2018
Ohio and five other Great Lakes states have Clean Marina programs that aim to improve air and water quality. They teach marina owners how to prevent pollution.
On Feb. 21, Ohio’s program will hold a day-long training conference. Marina owners will learn best practices – such as recycling fishing lines or reducing oil spills.
Ohio Sea Grant’s Sarah Orlando runs the program.
“Part of our mission of the Clean Marinas program is to see what’s happening in terms of issues on Lake Erie, issues in Ohio, environmental regulations down the road may be bringing to the state of Ohio, and provide that education to give our marina owners a heads up and be proactive on these types of issues,” said Orlando.
There are over 400 marinas and over 500,000 registered boats in Ohio.
Participants also will learn about new stormwater permits, managing aquatic plants and controlling wastewater. So far 78 marinas are certified by the program, and 47 more have pledged to work towards a certification.
Featured Image courtesy of Denise Kappa via Shutterstock
