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| A tall glass of bad Ju-Ju (photo courtesy the SanduskyRegister.com) |
As reported in the Port Clinton News-Herald today, there will be a subcommittee field hearing of the House of Representatives Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee on the health of Lake Erie from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at the Lake Erie Islands Regional Welcome Center, 770 S.E. Catawba Road. The hearing is being held by Ohio Reps. Dennis Murray, D-Sandusky, and Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green.
State officials and environmental experts will be testifying to a panel of state legislators. Among those expected to testify is the newly appointed director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Jim Zehringer, who previously served as the Director of the Department of Agriculture. Ohio Rep. David Hall, R-Millersburg, chairman of the committee, will lead the discussion.
Quoting the News-Herald, "Record-setting size and density of toxic algae blooms over the last two summers have drawn a new focus on the health and future of Lake Erie. Warmer summers in the already warm and shallow lake along with increased phosphorous and other nutrients from farm fertilizer runoff and municipal sewage allow the toxic algae to thrive, but the details of exactly what is to blame or how to fix it remains a challenge for government officials."
The hearing will be open to the public.
When I researched zebra mussels and their effect on benthic invertebrates back in the late 90s/early 2000 --and yes, I realize this was a while ago and new discoveries have probably been made :-) -- I remember reading that they also discovered a direct correlation between Dreissena polymorpha invasion and increased levels of toxic algae blooms when phosphorus levels were low. When phosphorus levels were high, no effect on the levels of blue-green algae was observed. If this is still the case, seems like even if we decrease the amount of phosphorous from fertilizer run-off, we may still have algae bloom problems caused from our little invaders...just a (sad) thought.
ReplyDeleteMichele
Thank you. Most interesting. I would love to hear more about this. Can you point me to any online resources that discuss this? I would like to develop this into a future article, if possible.
ReplyDeleteLet me see what I can find...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/09/980919115852.htm
ReplyDeleteAnd
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/brochures/ecohab.pdf
Those came up right away when using "zebra mussels and algae blooms" in the search engine. I'll see if I can find anything more current. (This is making me miss my old biological research days! Lol!)
Wow! There's a lot out there just using Google :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I will research this as time permits and write a follow-up article.
ReplyDelete