Algae Bloom Woes And More

[Phil Lilley]

by Ned Kehde

For the past several years, several Midwest finesse anglers and member of the Finesse News Network have been moaning about the plethora of algae blooms that have been besmearing some of the flatland reservoirs in northeastern Kansas.

Recently, while we were in San Antonio, Texas, taking a respite from our wintertime angling endeavors and relishing a visit at the home of our youngest daughter and her family, we were disheartened to learn that the algae plague is also tormenting anglers who ply the southwestern sections of Lake Erie around Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.

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[Wayne SW/MO]

I suspect that the only way to stop all these plant introductions is to outlaw boat trailers and waders, which ain't going to happen.

[bfishn]

There are two completely different and often confused algae types.

"Algae bloom" typically refers to suspended microscopic plant life (phytoplankton) that occurs in any water with the requisite nutrient chemistry (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc) and sunlight. It's the foundation of the aquatic food chain and provides the bulk mass of food for filter feeders (many of which become food for carnivores). It only gets out of control when the nutrients overload, often a result of runoff from fertilized fields, septic discharge, etc.

Filimentous algae on the other hand attaches to rocks and objects, and is largely a nuisance. It contributes little or nothing to the food chain, and contributes to lowered dissolved oxygen levels as it decays.

Unlike non-native plant species, neither are a result of, or affected by, boat trailers, livewell discharge, etc.

Added:

An interesting and easy experiment (once the weather warms) you can do in your backyard is to create your own algae bloom. Just set a bucket of water out in the sun for a few days... not much happens. Then mix in a few spoonfuls of lawn or garden fertilizer and watch it turn green in the next few days.

[MOPanfisher]

There is another that has hit some kansas and oklahoma lakes in the last couple years. Blue-Green algae which caused more problems due to the toxin contained in the algae.

[ness]

Those are some pretty grim articles. I had missed the Frazee article.

On a smaller scale -- there's a little creek that flows through some park and undeveloped land near my house. Just a little mud-bottomed creek that is easy to get to, but still out of sight enough so it didn't get fished much. I could always count on pulling a few bass out of there -- some of pretty decent size. My kids and I referred to it as the 'secret spot' and we kept it to ourselves. A residential development went in just upstream, followed by a golf course farther up a few years back. Between the two, that stream has just died. I always suspected the golf course was the bigger problem due to the massive amounts of chemicals required to keep grass green and weed-free. Never did notice an increase in algae. Now there's a ton of trash in there too. Apparently home builders are not subject to the same littering laws we are.

[Tim Smith]

There are two completely different and often confused algae types.

"Algae bloom" typically refers to suspended microscopic plant life (phytoplankton) that occurs in any water with the requisite nutrient chemistry (nitrogen, phosphorus, etc) and sunlight. It's the foundation of the aquatic food chain and provides the bulk mass of food for filter feeders (many of which become food for carnivores). It only gets out of control when the nutrients overload, often a result of runoff from fertilized fields, septic discharge, etc.

Filimentous algae on the other hand attaches to rocks and objects, and is largely a nuisance. It contributes little or nothing to the food chain, and contributes to lowered dissolved oxygen levels as it decays.

Unlike non-native plant species, neither are a result of, or affected by, boat trailers, livewell discharge, etc.

Added:

An interesting and easy experiment (once the weather warms) you can do in your backyard is to create your own algae bloom. Just set a bucket of water out in the sun for a few days... not much happens. Then mix in a few spoonfuls of lawn or garden fertilizer and watch it turn green in the next few days.

Good comments here. Just a couple of add-ons....

Both filamentous and pelagic algae can contribute to dissolved oxygen (DO) problems, but in small to medium streams it's almost always filamentous algae. The bigger the body of water, the more important the open-water, free-floating algae become for water quality (think about the ratio of surface area to volume).

Heat also plays a role in reduced water quality by accelerating the rate of metabolism in the lower water column. That creates a reducing environment at the substrate which frees inorganic phosphorus and releases it into the water column.

Wayne, there's usually not an "exotic plant" angle involved with DO problems because algae spores of most species are already everywhere, boats or no boats. A large stand of aquatic plants can die back annually and cause problems over the long term, but that's often a function of how rich in nutrient the substrate is already.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I know Tim, but I was thinking that it is still not the threat that plants are becoming. Personally I don't see a solution to algae blooms because one, they are occurring in unnatural bodies of water and human habitation is expanding. Eventually it would seem that while reservoirs were able to handle biological waste to some extent, they no longer can handle the increase. They have always been something of evaporation sources and I suspect it is not only worse, but there is no money to improve sewage facilities to stop it.

I have seen the water clarity in TR go from so clear that it inhibited fishing to average clarity at best. I'm sure that the clarity could be linked to the human increase in the watershed and the shoreline.

[Tim Smith]

I think you're right about the sewage treatment situation, Wayne. The sewage treatment industry people I have watched seem pretty hostile to the idea of making them improve their performance on nutrient removal. As far as they're concerned, water quality is much better than it was 40 years ago so we should just all be grateful and shut our yapping.

It would take quite a bit more money and time and space to make significant improvements from where we are right now. As water resources become more limiting, we may eventually have to make that investment. Some might say screw the rivers and lakes and just filter the water we drink. Hopefully we have higher standards than that.

Make no mistake, though. Sewage treatment (our bathrooms and kitchens etc) is our biggest nutrient pollution source by far.

[Wayne SW/MO]

As far as they're concerned, water quality is much better than it was 40 years ago

I'm sure it is, but unfortunately if it is twice as good and we now have twice as many people we've gained nothing.

[exiledguide]

I may be mixing apples and organs but didn't Columbia MO a while back start using a wetland as the final filter in there sewage treatment and didn't that produce cleaner water than the chemical treatments/filters they had used previously.

Apples and ORANGES