Lake Erie is Canada's fifth largest lake and is the shallowest of the Great Lakes. The St. Clair River is the major source delivering water from Lake Huron. The Niagara River and the Welland Canal are the main outflows. Lake Erie has three basins with very different characteristics. The shallow Western Basin has a maximum depth of 5-10 m. It is eutrophic, has a high turbidity due to resuspended sediments, and has a productive fishery. The Central Basin is the largest basin and has a maximum depth of approximately 20 m. This mesotrophic area of the lake has a narrow hypolimnion that is often deficient of oxygen. The Eastern Basin is the deepest of the three basins. Although it is oligo/mesotrophic, it appears to have a high nutrient status because of the abundant growth of attached algae along the shorelines. Lake Erie is frequently in the path of storms producing seiches that can increase the water level up to 2.5 m at the downwind end of the lake. The lake is also notorious for producing waves with heights over 5 m. Lake Erie differs from the other Great Lakes because it often completely freezes over during the winter.
Lake Erie has had major pollution problems. The discovery of the role of phosphorus loading in the eutrophication of Lakes Erie and Ontario led to the 1972 Canada / United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Another concern was the high mercury concentrations in fish caught in the 1970's. Although contaminant inputs into the lake have been greatly reduced, concentrations are still high in the sediments. Despite this, Lake Erie fish often have the lowest contaminant loads in the Great Lakes. The Lake Erie fishery is dominated by yellow perch, walleye, smelt and white bass.
Altitude: 174 m above sea level
Surface Area: 25,700 sq. km
Mean Depth: 19 m
Maximum Depth: 64 m
Volume: 484 cu. km
Shoreline Length: 1,400 km
Drainage Basin: 84,500 sq km
Most recent image for each satellite pass AND Image archive
Lake Erie Circle Tour
Predator and prey fish populations in the western basin of Lake Erie
Lake Erie fish stocks are multi-million dollar resources that are vitally important to the commercial and 
sport fishing industries of four states (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) and the Province of Ontario. The abundance and the availability of these stocks for harvest has been altered by over-exploitation, habitat alteration, environmental degradation, and the influx of non-endemic species during the past century. Changes continue to occur, and resource management agencies must revise existing management strategies or develop new ones that protect, enhance, or rehabilitate fish stocks while allowing for sustained utilization.
This 
project will provide the latest biological data to aid in fisheries management decisions. Information collected will be used by interagency task groups (e.g., Yellow Perch and Walleye Task Groups) who make recommendations (e.g., quota allocations) to the interagency Lake Erie Committee which in turn establishes management objectives for Lake Erie. The study is working to determine distribution, abundance, age composition, growth, and mortality for walleye, yellow perch, white perch, whitefish, and freshwater drum. It will also determine annual reproductive success of all important predator and prey fish species in western Lake Erie and define utilization of forage fish species by predators and determine the degree of competitive interaction among predators.
