Joseph D Schmitt, PhD

As a Research Fishery Biologist for the USGS Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC), I conduct research that improves our understanding of economically and ecologically valuable fishes. Some example research includes multiple projects relating to Lake Erie cisco, which once supported the largest freshwater fishery in the world, and Lake Erie yellow perch, which support the most valuable Great Lakes fishery today. I work closely with state agencies including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and New York. I also work with academic institutions, provincial agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others. My trophic ecology expertise has resulted in requests to serve on expert panels, working groups, and graduate committees, and to lead research projects across the Great Lakes. Concurrently, I still conduct research in the Chesapeake Bay studying invasive blue catfish, which threaten several important fisheries, particularly blue crab. I currently lead our Coldwater Assessment Survey and our Forage Fish Survey, which provides information to the Lake Erie Committee on population trends of prey fish, walleye, yellow perch, and valuable coldwater species like lake trout. I also lead our lake whitefish assessment survey, which also support important commercial fisheries. As the PI of multiple surveys, I lead research teams for multi-day trips aboard our large research vessel on the vast and often inhospitable Lake Erie. 

I am the USGS representative on the Lake Erie Coldwater Task Group, a group which is responsible for monitoring populations of valuable coldwater fish species like lake trout, burbot, and lake whitefish. I have served on other expert panels and working groups in the past including the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Invasive Catfish Taskforce and the Lake Erie Forage Task Group. I am also part of a cisco restoration working group, which is organized through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC). I fund a great deal of my research program using competitive extramural support from multiple sources.