Free Film Screening Highlights Threats Facing Great Lakes Ecosystem

OSWEGO COUNTY – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary teams up with SUNY Oswego’s Great Lakes Institute to present free screenings of the hour-long film, “All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes.”

Screenings will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at the Palace Theater, 12053 E. Main St., Wolcott, N.Y. and on Thursday, Nov. 19 at Room 315 at SUNY Oswego’s Park Hall, adjacent to Sheldon Hall, just off Washington Blvd., Oswego, N.Y.

Husband and wife film team Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert explored the depths of the Great Lakes using cutting-edge underwater drones and discovered lake beds carpeted by tiny invasive quagga mussels. Their film reveals how quadrillions of these mussels are re-engineering the ecosystem of the Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers retreated during the last ice age.

Quagga mussels are filter feeders whose activity has significantly increased water clarity throughout the Great Lakes in recent decades, including Lake Huron, for example. Capable of filtering vast amounts of water, the invasive species can clear out the lake’s water in approximately one week, making offshore waters three times clearer than it was 30 years ago.

While clearer water may seem beneficial, the impact of quagga mussels is being felt throughout the entire ecosystem of the Great Lakes.

“Lakes Ontario, Huron and Michigan are all very similar in that they’ve seen a huge increase in clarity of the water,” said Drebert. “We think as humans ‘Oh, great, they’re getting clearer, it must be better. We must be making them cleaner and less polluted.’ But that clarity actually means there are less things in there for fish and other creatures to eat. It means there’s less food out there for aquatic organisms, and that has a ripple effect all the way up the food chain to the fish that we like to eat.”

By filtering such large volumes of water and consuming microscopic aquatic plants, quagga mussels drastically disrupt food webs in the Great Lakes, reducing supplies available to fish, zooplankton and other species.

The mussels also threaten cultural heritage in the Great Lakes.

“Quagga mussel waste is a bit acidic, so it has a huge effect on metal,” said Drebert. “Because of this, our World War II planes in the Great Lakes are disappearing at a shocking rate. They’re being degraded by all that waste.”

Shipwreck identification has also become harder due to quagga mussels. While quaggas don’t need to stick to a surface to survive, they do like to attach themselves to solid structures. When they colonize shipwrecks, they embed themselves into the wood and cannot be easily removed, obscuring the name of the ship and other identifying features.

Having discovered a shipwreck during the filming of “All Too Clear,” Drebert and Melnick have personal experience with this challenge. When the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) detected something unusual in Lake Huron using sonar technology, they reached out to the pair to ask if they could use their underwater drone to take a closer look. What they discovered was a shipwreck of the “Africa,” a ship that disappeared in the 1890s after leaving Ohio and traveling to Owen Sound on Lake Huron.

“There are very few genuine surprises in life, and this was certainly one of them,” Drebert said. “After we found it, we had a mystery on our hands. What ship was this? You can’t just read the name from the ship anymore, so we talked to some folks at our local museums and engaged some local archaeologists and a shipwreck historian. Together, we figured out that it was the ‘Africa.’”

It turned out that Drebert and Melnick had a personal connection to their discovered shipwreck as well. All 11 sailors onboard “Africa” went down with the ship, including Captain Hans Larsen. Where they live is named after Captain Larsen, and the two were able to provide closure for the captain’s descendants.

“We released the story with ‘Canadian Geographic’ and the descendants of Captain Larsen reached out to us,” said Drebert. “There were four of them across Canada who ended up coming to our house, and we took them out on our boat and showed them the resting place of their ancestor using the remotely operated vehicle (underwater drone). It was this cool connection to the past and a way to help the family close this chapter of a tragic event in their family history, knowing where their ancestor is resting now.”

Despite the harmful impact quagga mussels have had on the ecosystem of the Great Lakes, Drebert hopes that continued research and human intervention will lead to effective ways to mitigate the impact of the invasive species in the future.

“Is there a universe where we can manage mussels and help the native species that we want to be here actually stick around?” asked Drebert. “Yes, I’m super confident in that, and I think there are a lot of great folks doing amazing work that should leave people feeling hopeful about the Great Lakes. I think the one thing we all want is for the Great Lakes to be healthy and for all the things that live there to do well.”

Those attending the film screenings will be able to learn more about the story behind “All Too Clear” and meet Melnick and Drebert at the event. The underwater drone used for filming will also be on display. The 60-minute version of “All Too Clear” will be shown, followed by a question-and-answer period with the filmmakers.

Seating is first come first served, and registration is not required. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/NOAALakeOntarioNMS.

The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary was designated in 2024 and encompasses more than 1,700 square miles in eastern Lake Ontario. It protects and showcases dozens of shipwrecks and other historically significant underwater assets. For more information on the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, visit https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lake-ontario/.

Source: Oswego County.