A Japanese professor’s concern about the condition of the ocean’s coral reefs translated into a unique melding of freshwater art and science once he found himself in the Great Lakes.

Todd Ambs, director of the Healing Our Waters (HOW)-Great Lakes Coalition, grew up on Michigan’s lakes and rivers. He’s spent the last 25 years focusing on water policy. It’s safe to say that Ambs is attracted to water and to organizations that advocate for it. This has put him in a unique position to be a member of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s advisory council. Learn more about this advocate for the Great Lakes.

Join Tim Campbell, aquatic invasive species outreach specialist for UW-Extension and Wisconsin Sea Grant, for a free screening of the two-hour documentary, “Making Waves: Battle for the Great Lakes,” followed by a short question-and-answer session. The screening will take place at 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Friday, March 9, at the Lake Superior Estuarium on Barker’s Island in Superior (3 Marina Drive).

Sea Grant’s Tim Campbell is the successful recipient of an Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment grant from the UW-Madison. That means in September he will helm a new speaker series called Tap Talks, to be held in a brewery.

The River Talk series continues this month at 7 p.m., Wednesday Feb. 14, at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Drive, Superior, Wis.). Erin Schaeffer, graduate research assistant at the University of Minnesota, will present: “Muskies on the Move in the St. Louis River Estuary.”

Harmful algal blooms occur around the globe. Milwaukee is the place, though, where researchers are seeking to build, test and get to market a real-time early warning device.

If your New Year’s resolution is to start an aquaculture business in Wisconsin, you’re in luck. Wisconsin is one of the only U.S. states that is mapped out with the aquaculture industry in mind. The new mapping tool is available on the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility’s web site.

The Great Lakes Sea Grant Network has released a report on Asian carp in the Great Lakes region. Two Wisconsin Sea Grant staff members contributed to the report, which includes information on carp life history, movement and behavior, monitoring, control, ecosystem impacts and gaps in current knowledge that need further addressing.

The River Talk series continues this month on Wednesday Jan. 10, 7 p.m. at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Annie Bracey, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota and Fred Strand, former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologist, will present: “Terns in the Estuary – A Species in Need.” They will focus on Interstate Island, a protected bird nesting site in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.

A popular teaching tool about aquatic invasive species, the Attack Pack, has received a recent reboot.