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The data generated from the Great Lakes Biological Monitoring Program are essential both for researchers studying the lakes and for managers making important decisions about resource use and protection. Great Lakes researchers have used monitoring data both to quantify the current status of important trophic groups and to identify longer-term changes and trends in biota (click here  for an example of these efforts). Great Lakes managers also use this information to make important decisions regarding fish management and stocking. For example, data on the amount and condition of benthic organisms provide important information about the amount of food available for fish in the Great Lakes. Managers can utilize this information in deciding the timing and number of fish fry to stock into the Great Lakes.
Given the importance and application of monitoring data, a primary objective of this current program is to generate accurate and timely information on biological conditions in the five Great Lakes. To accomplish this, we have adopted a range of quality control and quality assurance measures that ensure the integrity of the data we collect.
Some of the data collected from the Great Lakes Biological Monitoring Program have historically been entered in into the Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA  ). GLENDA is an Oracle database that can store data from four primary subject areas:
- project/organization (such as project metadata, organizations and persons involved in the project along with their mailing addresses, electronic addresses, and telephone numbers)
- station/location (such as metadata about sampling stations, latitude and longitude of sampling points or areas, the geopositioning and geographic metadata)
- field monitoring activities (such as visits to stations for monitoring, observations or measurements taken during sampling or in the lab and metadata about field sampling or lab activities)
- results (such as analytical results, analytes, units of measure, correction factors, quality assurance codes and flags, and any remarks on laboratory analyses)
In addition to the extensive historic data that are available in GLENDA, CILER researchers are working to integrate the data they collect into an updated database. The eventual goal is to make this database web accessible for easy browsing and downloading. Please stay tuned for progress on this front.
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