Marie Zhuikov

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/northern-waters-smokehaus-and-zenith-books-featured-on-wisconsin-sea-grants-fish-dish-podcast/

Wisconsin Sea Grant garners good showing in the Lakie Awards

On: February 22, 2024

In: 2023 Lakie Awards, Christy Remucal, Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year loser, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, Marie Zhuikov, Sarah Balgooyen, Stuart Carlton, Teach me about the Great Lakes podcast, Tim Campbell, Titus Bakery, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin water news

Podcast host Stuart Carlton calls the Lakie Awards “the least prestigious Great Lakes podcast awards” around. Carlton hosts “Teach me About the Great Lakes,” a twice-monthly podcast produced by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant where listeners can learn about a variety of Great Lakes topics and issues.

Mixed with tongue-in-cheek award categories like Great Lakes Donut of the Year are more typical ones. Wisconsin Sea Grant fared unusually well in the 2023 competition, earning honors for Great Lakes Research Project, Great Lakes Sandwich, Science Podcast and Great Lakes Titus of the Year.

A Lakie entry so bad that it garnered a first-ever loser award. Image credit: Tim Campbell, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Our staff members earned both the winner and runner-up categories for Great Lakes Research of the Year. Interim Wisconsin Sea Grant Director Christy Remucal and her student Sarah Balgooyen won for their journal article about discovering the source of a PFAS plume into Lake Michigan. Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist Tim Campbell and his team earned runner-up for their article about Buddhist life release rituals and the risk for unintentionally spreading aquatic invasive species.

Our podcast, Wisconsin Water News (produced by me!) earned runner-up for Science Podcast for the Year.

Fisheries Outreach Specialist Titus Seilheimer earned runner-up for Great Lakes Titus of the Year. Although this category is named after Titus, it wouldn’t look good for him to win it, so this year, those honors went to the Titus Bakery chain in Indiana.

Campbell had the distinction of being named a first-ever loser in the Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year competition. He submitted a photo of a mac-and-cheese hot dog covered with fruit loops cereal, which was too gross for the Lakies judges to even consider.

Despite their lack of prestige, our staff are proud of their showing in the Lakies and appreciate this outreach effort by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. To see a list of the other winners, please access the episode here.

The post Wisconsin Sea Grant garners good showing in the Lakie Awards first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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A peek inside Superior Fresh

On: December 5, 2023

In: aquaponics, Atlantic salmon, Emma Hauser, Hixton Wisconsin, Kyle Woolever, Marie Zhuikov, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, recirculating aquaculture systems, Sam Heward, Sharon Moen, Superior Fresh

Sea Grant staff learned more about aquaponics from a tour of the Superior Fresh facility in Wisconsin. Here they stand in front of some Atlantic salmon being readied for market. From left to right: Sharon Moen, Jenna Mertz, Marie Zhuikov, Emma Hauser. Image credit: Kyle Woolever, Superior Fresh.

Superior Fresh knows what it takes to raise fish on land and plants in water.

The aquaponics business, located on 800 acres of rolling woodland and prairie in Hixton, Wisconsin, has been raising Atlantic salmon and growing salad greens in its indoor facilities since 2017. The business reports it’s the largest of its kind in the world, producing 1.5 million pounds of salmon per year plus organic-certified salad greens.

It’s a big operation, and one I had the chance to tour in late October with a small group from Wisconsin Sea Grant that included Sharon Moen, food-fish outreach coordinator; Emma Hauser, aquaculture outreach and education specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the UW-Stevens Point Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility (NADF); and Marie Zhuikov, fellow science communicator.

It was good opportunity for me, a newcomer to Sea Grant and the world of aquaculture, to learn more about fish farming and Superior Fresh’s recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Wisconsin Sea Grant supports aquaculture research, including Hauser’s work in outreach, education and workforce development at NADF. Many of the interns NADF hosts go on to work at Superior Fresh—a fact evidenced by all the friendly faces Hauser recognized during our tour.

After pulling plastic coverings over our shoes (which required some artful hopping on my part), we followed Kyle Woolever, director of operations and a UW-Stevens Point graduate, as he showed us around the facility, which recently experienced a 60,000-square-foot expansion. He explained that the building houses half a million fish, all of which are reared in and transferred between tanks based on fish size and stage of lifecycle. Salmon are raised from egg to market size—which is about 10 pounds in just over two years.

All those fish, of course, require a constant flow of water. Gesturing toward the big tanks, Woolever talked about the water footprint of the facility.

“Two small wells are raising all of what you’re going to see on 50 [gallons per minute],” he said. (Residential wells pump between five and 10 gallons per minute.)

How does Superior Fresh raise salmon using relatively little water? The answer is their RAS, which includes high-tech equipment and monitoring to effectively clean and recycle the water throughout the facility. This water is also used in the greenhouse, where leafy greens further remove the nutrients they need to grow. The water then returns to the fish, and the cycle restarts.

Superior Fresh captures all wastewater from the production system by irrigating over 50 acres of native grasses and alfalfa, while operating with zero wastewater discharge. The grasses and alfalfa are cut and baled several times annually and are used by local farmers for cattle bedding. The business also uses other regenerative farming practices, such as creating a soil amendment from digested fish manure, which can be injected into fields before planting.

After touring the aquaculture facility, Woolever led us to the greenhouse, where the thrum of churning water faded to the quiet sound of plants photosynthesizing. It’s here where the nutrient-rich fish water fuels the growth of Superior Fresh’s organic salad greens.

Entering the greenhouse was an arresting sight. Rows of white rafts filled with lettuce, kale, mustard, arugula and sorrel floated in long tanks of water. Sam Heward, greenhouse manager, explained how plants make a linear journey from one side of “the pond” to the other. Baby greens spend about three weeks on the water before harvest.

The greenhouse is warm and bright and, we joke, the perfect place to be in winter. And it’s not just plants and humans that enjoy the summer-like conditions.

“It’s a perfect environment for plants,” said Heward, “which makes it also a perfect environment for [plant] diseases.”

The team is vigilant about watching for root disease and will change varieties or flush the tank if problems arise.

By the end of the tour, it was clear that Superior Fresh is working so that Atlantic salmon don’t have to be airfreighted across oceans from Chile or northern Europe—they can come from your local community—and greens don’t have to be grown thousands of miles away in sun-soaked states. In other words, they’re successfully forging another way to eat Wisconsin fish (with a side of salad).

The post A peek inside Superior Fresh first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-peek-inside-superior-fresh/

Jenna Mertz

A pretty fishy work experience

On: August 9, 2022

In: Amy Carrozino-Lyon, Colin Ritchie, fish sampling, Lake Michigan, Marie Zhuikov, Noah Hoffmann, Seagull Bar State Natural Area, Titus Seilheimer, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, wild rice restoration

Researchers from UW-Green Bay deploy a seine net in a Lake Michigan bay. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

There’s nothing fishy about wanting to learn about colleagues’ projects more deeply, while also spending time with far-flung co-workers, right? Or is there? The numbers below—fish measurements in centimeters—were in fact, so fishy.

Bullhead, 26

Banded killifish, 23

Yellow perch, 60

Madtom catfish, 33

Titus Seilheimer shows a bullhead to Noah Hoffman (left) and to members of the Wisconsin Sea Grant communications team at Seagull Bar State Natural Area on Lake Michigan. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

On an early August trip to the Seagull Bar State Natural Area on Lake Michigan, five members of the Sea Grant communications team (including me) were exposed to this count and what sounded like the recitation of another, decidedly piscivorous language.

As glorious sunshine streamed down in the sheltered small bay, our co-worker, Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer, called out fish names and proportions. He had collected the fish, more than 100 in all, from both a 150-foot seine net and a fyke net.

In a neat hand and with a sharp pencil, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Assistant Researcher Amy Carrozino-Lyon recorded the counts of species type and measurements on a sheet of paper. She will take the figures back to her campus office and add them to previously collected data about fish species found in four areas with fresh beds of wild rice on the western shore of Green Bay for her study about the effect of wild rice on the ecosystem.

The full record of wild rice’s historic presence in the world’s fifth largest lake is murky, but it is known that this wild grass, revered by Indigenous people, grew for centuries at river mouths on the lake until development, varying water levels and pollution took a toll. Now, the plant prefers shallow waters with organic, soft sediment and clear water that isn’t frequently or extremely stirred.

Amy Carrozino-Lyon is collecting data about fish species found in four areas with fresh beds of wild rice on the western shore of Green Bay for her study about the effect of wild rice on the ecosystem. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

Carrozino-Lyon has been restoring the stands of gracefully swaying rice, purchasing seed by the truckload and fostering nearly 40 acres of habitat. This year (2022) marks the seventh year of her efforts.

Wild rice’s effect on the ecosystem is also being checked by her two students, Noah Hoffmann and Colin Ritchie. That day, these bright young men, both students at UW-Green Bay, gave us lessons in dragonfly larvae growth, crayfish identification and the differences between native and nonnative aquatic plants.

This is all good stuff to us because we write and edit stories, post on social media and create videos and podcasts about the wonders of the Great Lakes. It was a hands-on tutorial for those of us who typically deal in words, audio and images, not slippery fish and underwater bugs.

It was also a chance to meet with our co-worker, Science Communicator Marie Zhuikov, who is based in Superior while we remaining four communicators, including Bonnie Willison and Jennifer Smith, are based in an office in Madison.

The trip not only connected us in person with valued colleagues Zhuikov and Seilheimer, but it also further proved to be a day to observe a fish count, marvel at nature’s beauty and contemplate a place where wild rice can flourish once more.

The post A pretty fishy work experience first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-pretty-fishy-work-experience/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-pretty-fishy-work-experience

Moira Harrington

Sea Grant project faves, Sharon Moen

On: January 25, 2022

In: Bonnie Willison, Finding Fish in Wisconsin, Jennifer Smith, Marie Zhuikov, Sharon Moen, The Fish Dish podcast, Titus Seilheimer

The calendar has flipped to 2022. Our staff members are ready to tackle new projects in the coming 12 months, which also happens to mark Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary. Before they move more deeply into this anniversary, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2021 project. Our resident fish and aquaculture maven—Sharon Moen who heads up the Eat Wisconsin Fish initiative—had a swimmingly successful effort to share for our last post in this series.

I dubbed my favorite 2021 effort, “Finding Fish in Wisconsin.” This quest for insights and interviews had me talking with commercial fishers, food-fish farmers and fish processors across the state in four bursts (see map). At different times, Wisconsin Sea Grant colleagues Bonnie Willison, Jennifer Smith, Titus Seilheimer and Marie Zhuikov were there, too.

My goal was to learn about the needs of Wisconsin’s food fish-producing industries and how Wisconsin Sea Grant could support their success, while gathering material to create fish producer profiles so that consumers can better understand who is producing their food and why fish from Wisconsin are safe to eat, a sustainable food choice and economically important.

While the conversations we had with fish producers are guiding Eat Wisconsin Fish activities in 2022, Willison has already turned some of the interviews into short videos that are available on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s YouTube playlist and elsewhere. If you are more into podcasts, Zhuikov wove interview excerpts into episodes of The Fish Dish, a new Wisconsin Sea Grant podcast.

This map, adapted from the Eat Wisconsin Fish website, shows Moen’s travels for the Finding Fish in Wisconsin effort. #1: Finding fish in Bayfield County (June) focused on Lake Superior commercial fisheries and processors. #2: Finding fish across the diagonal (July) spanned visits to farms raising shrimp, salmon, trout, yellow perch and more. #3: Finding fish near Sheboygan (August) was inspired by a tilapia farm and broadened to include visits with trout farmers, a fish smoking business and a commercial fisher. #4: Finding fish around Door County (November) included insights into the international fish roe trade and commercial fishing in Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

The post Sea Grant project faves, Sharon Moen first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

In: accelerated freshwater steel corrosion, freshwater corrosion in inland lakes and rivers, Marie Zhuikov

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-project-faves-sharon-moen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-project-faves-sharon-moen

Wisconsin Sea Grant

Sea Grant project faves, Marie Zhuikov

On: January 13, 2022

A steel dock post on a lake near Cotton, Minnesota, shows the same biocorrosion tubercles as those found in the Duluth Superior Harbor. Photo taken in 2020. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The calendar has flipped to 2022. Our staff members are ready to tackle new projects in the coming 12 months, which also happens to mark Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary. Before they move more deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2021 project. Marie Zhuikov shared her thoughts. She’s our senior science communicator.

My favorite project happened right on the cusp of 2021. It all started the previous fall, when I found strange rusty bumps on the steel support legs of our cabin dock. The lumps looked familiar to me because I’d seen similar ones on steel pilings in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. But my dock was on an inland lake in northern Minnesota, far from the harbor. Could the same accelerated corrosion of steel that was happening in the harbor and in Lake Superior be happening in inland lakes?

I knew who to ask about this from interviews for stories that I did about this issue in the past. Some background: Research funded by both Wisconsin Sea Grant and Minnesota Sea Grant determined the cause of accelerated corrosion of steel infrastructure in the Duluth-Superior Port, which was first noticed in 1998. Corrosion of this nature is most often seen in saltwater environments, but Sea Grant work determined it was related to microbial action combined with winter ice scour. Coatings and jackets have been devised, with Wisconsin Sea Grant support, to protect port infrastructure. In 2018-19, the value of harbor assets protected was $5.4 million. An expert panel originally thought the corrosion microbes were only found in Lake Superior waters.

I conferred with Sea Grant researchers and corrosion experts, sending them pictures of my dock legs. The more I dug, the more intriguing and complex the story became. The researchers confirmed the corrosion was caused by the same factors at work in the Duluth-Superior Port. They told me that microbially influenced corrosion problems are not confined only to Lake Superior. Corrosion is impacting steel structures far up the St. Louis River, which empties into Lake Superior, and has been found in several inland lakes.

I wrote a story and produced a podcast about the findings, which led to stories in several local media outlets and magazines. This increased the public’s understanding of the corrosion issue, how to mitigate its effects, and ongoing research efforts to counteract it. My cabin neighbors now know how to keep their dock legs from buckling too soon.

Usually, I get story ideas from scientific journals or research proposals. This story originated because I was paying attention to what was happening out my own back door, so to speak. That’s why it’s my fave for 2021.

The post Sea Grant project faves, Marie Zhuikov first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-project-faves-marie-zhuikov/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-project-faves-marie-zhuikov

The Fish Dish: New Podcast Mixes Friends, Fun and Food

On: November 8, 2021

In: Craig Hoopman, Greek-Style Lake Whitefish, Marie Zhuikov, Sharon Moen, The Fish Dish podcast, Woodblind

Sharon displays the Greek-Style Lake Whitefish, sizzling in the pan. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

For the latest “dish” about Great Lakes fish, you’ll want to listen to “The Fish Dish.” The podcast, co-hosted by longtime coworkers and friends Sharon Moen and Marie Zhuikov, introduces you to the people behind Wisconsin’s fishing and aquaculture industries. Each episode includes a “Fish-o-licious” section where Moen and Zhuikov cook a new fish recipe.

The first episode features Craig Hoopman, a sixth-generation commercial fisherman from Bayfield, Wisconsin. Hoopman shares his beginnings in the business, current challenges, plus his dreams for the future. Also, Eat Wisconsin Fish Outreach Specialist Moen and Science Communicator Zhuikov share their backgrounds in fishing and introduce listeners to the Eat Wisconsin Fish campaign. During the “Fish-o-licious” part of the show, they cook Greek-Style Lake Whitefish at Hoopman’s recommendation.

Tying it all together is ska music by Twin Ports band, Woodblind.

The post The Fish Dish: New Podcast Mixes Friends, Fun and Food first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/the-fish-dish-new-podcast-mixes-friends-fun-and-food/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fish-dish-new-podcast-mixes-friends-fun-and-food

Sea Grant staff collect commendable beach cleanup haul

On: September 28, 2021

In: Elizabeth White, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Ginny Carlton, Manitowoc beach cleanup, Marie Zhuikov, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin Point beach cleanup, Yael Gen

Birders on Wisconsin Point look for rare jaegers. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The third weekend in September is traditionally a time for beach cleanups by communities in the Great Lakes. Volunteers scour beaches and shorelines for trash as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Our Sea Grant staff members got in the spirit, participating in cleanups spanning across the state, from Wisconsin Point in Lake Superior, to Madison, to Manitowoc on Lake Michigan.

Marie Zhuikov and Russ Maron on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Russ Maron

The event on Wisconsin Point featured a twist: birding. Besides being a good time to collect trash, this season offers a narrow window for Wisconsin birders to see parasitic jaegers, fast-flying pirates of the water bird world, as they migrate past Wisconsin Point from the arctic tundra to southern climes.

The “parasitic” part of their name comes from their food-stealing habits. They are categorized as “kleptoparasites,” which means they steal food from other seabirds.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve (FOLSR) took advantage of the timing to invite Jaegerfest birders and FOLSR members to cleanup the beach when they weren’t on the lookout for birds.

Science communicator Marie Zhuikov and her husband have attended many beach cleanups in the past, but never one that combined jaeger-watching. On a calm and quiet Saturday morning, they joined the professional birders and their high-powered spotting scopes.

Dried bee balm flowers. Image credit: Yael Gen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Zhuikov and her husband had better luck finding trash than birds. Alas, no jaegers were to be seen, although many ring-billed and herring gulls floated serenely in the lake. The duo moved to the end of the point and collected two bags of trash from the beach. The most interesting finds? A single Birkenstock sandal and fireworks debris.

Their efforts became even more impressive with the addition of four other bags of garbage plus a car bumper that others had collected and left bagged near the parking lot. All total, their haul weighed 160 pounds!

Their colleagues editor Elizabeth White, educator Ginny Carlton and graphic designer Yael Gen participated in a more botanical cleanup at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the Madison campus. They began by collecting seeds from dried bee balm plants. Gen said they pulled the seed heads off and saved them in paper bags. “If you turn one upside down and shake it, the seeds resemble ground pepper,” she said. The seeds will be used for a class and to reseed other areas of the preserve.

Titus Seilheimer and his sons with one of their beach cleanup finds in Manitowoc. Image credit: Amy Seilheimer

Next, they got a workout clearing an invasive buckthorn thicket along the shores of Lake Mendota using loppers and saws.

Fisheries specialist Titus Seilheimer and his family worked on Silver Creek Beach in Manitowoc. “We typically organize two cleanups per year, spring and fall,” Seilheimer said. “We had two other volunteers for our cleanup for a total of six. We removed 68 pounds of trash. That included two tires for most of the weight. We found fairly typical trash with 40 cigarette butts, small pieces of foam and plastic, shotgun shells and wads, bottle caps and plastic bottles.”

Way to go, Sea Grant staff! You cleaned up 228 pounds of trash, plus gobs of unwanted plants and provided seeds for the future. A commendable effort for one morning in September.

The post Sea Grant staff collect commendable beach cleanup haul first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-staff-collect-commendable-beach-cleanup-haul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-staff-collect-commendable-beach-cleanup-haul

One intern’s reflection

On: August 17, 2020

In: Elise Ertl, Marie Zhuikov, Moira Harrington, Tim Campbell, Wisconsin Sea Grant summer internship 2020

By Elise Ertl, University of Wisconsin-Superior

An internship can be a gateway to someone’s future, to a better career, and the beginning of a lifelong learning opportunity. This summer, I was fortunate enough to have had one of those opportunities through the Coastal Science Communications Internship at Wisconsin Sea Grant with my mentors Marie Zhuikov, Moira Harrington and Tim Campbell.

This year, however, the internships through Sea Grant presented themselves a little differently as they were virtual due to COVID-19. Not only was this a new experience for me, but for everyone at Sea Grant. Despite not being able to meet in person, the internship remained equally educational and exciting.

Elise Ertl. Submitted photo

Throughout the internship, I was given a calendar of tasks I was expected to complete day by day. However, I did not know at the time that those tasks would lead me to learning more about science communication than I could’ve imagined. This included what seemed to be a recurring theme for me, getting my foot in the door, exploring different forms of work, and learning the processes of being a part of a communications team. There are so many parts to communication. All of those parts are intersections that connect not only the work of many people within an organization, but at the very base, connect the people themselves. After realizing just how important communication really is, it is hard to imagine where we would all be without it. This was just the beginning of my ten-week long learning process.

My first project was to write an intern news release. I had never written a news release before, but now I was going to do it for eight interns, including myself. This new and challenging endeavor gave me the opportunity to meet and learn more about all of the interns as I contacted each to hear about what they would be working on during their own internships. The intern news release got posted on the Wisconsin Sea Grant website as well as sent to their individual hometown newspapers.

As each intern’s internship continued, so did our communication. Each week, we would attend a “brown bag” meeting where all of us would share their current progress throughout their week. Afterward, just the interns would talk together to share common experiences and bounce ideas off each other. Communicating with the interns made me more aware of my own communication style and led me to become more confident reaching out to people.

As the internship went on, I became constantly reminded of the essence of time. Even when I may feel something is time-sensitive, it probably is not that way for everyone. It is just as important to be patient with people as it is to not be a pushover when it comes to contacting them, especially about interviews.

I interviewed two people over the course of the internship, which was yet another completely new skill for me. I was surprised by the amount of time it took to get an interview, do the interview and write a story. However, in this, I was able to discover what methods work best for me such as using a recorder to recall and sort through information.

Outside of writing and interviews, I was also able to learn how to create podcasts. This work was very exciting especially because of how podcasts are increasing in popularity. I learned the online software, Audacity, and how to use several pieces of recording equipment such as the Sonus iTwo audio box, microphones and headsets. As I worked on the podcasts, I was able to gradually increase in the amount I was able to do. I started initially with editing quotes and narration and, by the last Wisconsin Water News podcast, was able to make a whole podcast almost completely on my own.

Beyond my tasks, I also attended meetings and helped set up meetings as well, giving me a taste of the interworkings of an organization, while increasing my communication skills. The more you practice communication, the less scary the idea becomes.

The skills I learned in this internship are invaluable and are something I can not only apply directly to future careers, but can apply anywhere in my life. I plan to bring the knowledge and skills I have gained from working for Wisconsin Sea Grant with me wherever I go, and I will always remember the people and place who put faith, time and energy into me and guided me through the beginning of the rest of my career. For what I know now and for what I have experienced, I am forever grateful.

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/one-interns-reflection/

Wisconsin Sea Grant

Sea Grant and Water Resources win awards for podcasts

On: January 10, 2020

In: AVA Digital Awards, dangerous currents workshop., Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, Marie Zhuikov, Rivers2Lake, Wisconsin water news

Jan. 10, 2020

By Moira Harrington

A Wisconsin Water News podcast won a gold award in the AVA Digital Awards 2019 contest.

A group of second-graders expand their knowledge of Lake Superior through a canoe trip. A workshop is held about that same lake and its strong and dangerous currents. These different topics share a common thread. Both were subjects of audio podcasts last year. Those podcasts were just named award-winning by an international communications competition known as AVA Digital Awards.

“Connecting teachers and students to the Lake Superior watershed” won a gold medal. It’s about a Sea Grant-funded educational program called Rivers2Lake, which shows children from school districts in Bayfield, Ashland and the South Shore of Lake Superior how nature can be a classroom. The program is run by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve.

“It takes a family to deal with dangerous currents” won an honorable mention. Interviews are featured with participants and presenters at a workshop held in Ashland about this hidden but potentially lethal hazard.

Podcast Producer Marie Zhuikov said, “The people who I interview are what make these stories so interesting. Instead of the standard phone conversation, I was able to get out of my office and talk to these people in the field, which makes the stories livelier and more immediate.”

Conferred annually, the AVA Digital Awards attract an average of 2,500 entries from around the world. They come from the private sector, nonprofit organizations, public entities and academic institutions. The awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, which consists of several thousand specialists in production, marketing, communication, advertising and public relations, plus freelance journalists.

Wisconsin Sea Grant offers a broad range of podcasts on topics such as lakes Michigan and Superior, groundwater, aquaculture and mercury in the environment. The recent award-winning stories are part of a series known as Wisconsin Water News, which has 20 episodes. The four-to-seven-minute podcasts bring Sea Grant and Water Resources stories alive by featuring the voices of scientists, resource managers, stakeholders and staff in audio presentations of news pieces that are also shared in print or online formats.