'Green slime' on a comeback

[GLF]

Call it the return of the green slime.

Back in the 1960s, foul gobs of algae along Great Lakes shorelines made swimmers and sunbathers miserable before a crackdown on phosphorus pollution repelled the invasion. Now the algae are mounting a comeback, and controlling it may be a tougher this time.

"The nightmare may be poised to repeat itself," the Michigan Environmental Council said in a statement accompanying a report released Wednesday.

Algae blooms have been on the rise since the mid-1990s in parts of all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior, whose icy waters aren't as hospitable to the slimy aquatic plants. The problem has worsened more recently and is particularly severe on shallow, warm Lake Erie.

"It's very much the same story on our (Lake Michigan) coast," said John Berges, a biologist with the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee's Great Lakes Water Institute.

Out-of-control algae look bad and smell worse, but there are more serious dangers, the environmental council's report said.

Swimmers who accidentally swallow algae-choked water can get sick; so can their pets. Algae blooms can reduce oxygen levels in the waters, causing fish kills. Some clumps are thick enough to block water intake pipes.

The surge four decades ago was blamed on excessive phosphorus, an essential plant nutrient. A single pound of phosphorus can stimulate growth of up to 500 pounds of algae, the report said.

Legislatures in Michigan and some neighboring states imposed limits on phosphate laundry detergents in the 1970s that were credited with significantly reducing the algae buildup.

But phosphorus continues flowing into the lakes from other sources, the report said.

Also, while Michigan was among the first states to virtually ban phosphorus in laundry soaps, it exempted dishwashing machine detergents — a loophole the environmental council wants the state Legislature to close.

But Berges said he was skeptical that dishwashers are a primary culprit in the green slime's return.

A more likely cause, and the reason the problem may be harder to solve this time, is the arrival in the 1980s of two exotic species: the zebra mussel and its cousin, the quagga mussel.

Mussels filter water, making it clearer. That may seem like a good thing, but it allows sunlight to penetrate deeper into the lakes, possibly enabling algae to thrive at greater depths than before.

[Molbychromer]

is this really a bad thing.. seems to me that once the lake got so clear that the bait got smaller and the salmon started to as well. I think this is gods way of answering all of our prayers. Hit me up [email protected] to discuss this issue further.

-It's better to sit on the boat and think about god than to sit in church and think about fishing...