This Year’s Abbreviated Bloom, Perch Fishing, and US Senate Action on Great Lakes Health

• Science Daily reported that, with 5.5 million acres of farmland, western Lake Erie is “the most intensely farmed watershed feeding into the Great Lakes.”
• During an Ohio Sea Grant meeting at the Stranahan Theater on September 15, Ohio State researcher Greg LaBarge said that while “74% of Ohio farmers recognize their nutrient management practices negatively impact water quality,
  only half have committed to making changes.”
• Rick Stumpf, a NOAA oceanographer in charge of Lake Erie algae forecasting systems, said low rainfall was responsible for this year’s weak algal bloom (the weakest since 2012).
• Charter fishing boat skipper and vice president of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, Dave Spangler, said, “This is one of the better years we’ve had in a long time, and the best perch fishing in the last 10 to 15 years.”
• On September 15, the US Senate voted to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which, over the next five years, will appropriate $300 million annually to address water quality and wildlife conservation issues.
• UT associate professor of civil engineering and chemical & environmental engineering Youngwoo Seo received a grant from the National Science Foundation totaling $224,937 to boost algal toxin removal at the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
• Every candidate running for the Ohio legislature received a survey in the mail today asking what they plan to do about the hundreds of millions of gallons of animal manure being dumped on the farm fields of Northwest Ohio.

Prepared by Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie (ACLE), a Toledo-area environmental group, the cover letter asked the candidates how they plan to bring Lake Erie back to health when

“…an amount of animal manure comparable to the sewage output of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and five Toledos is spread untreated, every year, on farm fields of Northwest Ohio draining into Lake Erie”

Candidates were asked to return their responses by October 10, after which ACLE will make them public. Stay tuned for the results.

On the engaged citizens front, activist group
Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie is holding its next meeting this
Wednesday, September 21, at Grace Lutheran Church (4441 Monroe St., Toledo).
Stop by the gathering (which kicks off at 6:30pm) and grab a yard sign.

• Science Daily reported that, with 5.5 million acres of farmland, western Lake Erie is “the most intensely farmed watershed feeding into the Great Lakes.”
• During an Ohio Sea Grant meeting at the Stranahan Theater on September 15, Ohio State researcher Greg LaBarge said that while “74% of Ohio farmers recognize their nutrient management practices negatively impact water quality,
  only half have committed to making changes.”
• Rick Stumpf, a NOAA oceanographer in charge of Lake Erie algae forecasting systems, said low rainfall was responsible for this year’s weak algal bloom (the weakest since 2012).
• Charter fishing boat skipper and vice president of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, Dave Spangler, said, “This is one of the better years we’ve had in a long time, and the best perch fishing in the last 10 to 15 years.”
• On September 15, the US Senate voted to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which, over the next five years, will appropriate $300 million annually to address water quality and wildlife conservation issues.
• UT associate professor of civil engineering and chemical & environmental engineering Youngwoo Seo received a grant from the National Science Foundation totaling $224,937 to boost algal toxin removal at the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
• Every candidate running for the Ohio legislature received a survey in the mail today asking what they plan to do about the hundreds of millions of gallons of animal manure being dumped on the farm fields of Northwest Ohio.

Prepared by Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie (ACLE), a Toledo-area environmental group, the cover letter asked the candidates how they plan to bring Lake Erie back to health when

“…an amount of animal manure comparable to the sewage output of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and five Toledos is spread untreated, every year, on farm fields of Northwest Ohio draining into Lake Erie”

Candidates were asked to return their responses by October 10, after which ACLE will make them public. Stay tuned for the results.

On the engaged citizens front, activist group
Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie is holding its next meeting this
Wednesday, September 21, at Grace Lutheran Church (4441 Monroe St., Toledo).
Stop by the gathering (which kicks off at 6:30pm) and grab a yard sign.