algae bloom

[wakina]

talking about the symptoms but not the true reason for these algae blooms?
Thank the shippers for dumping there salt water+ creatures, ballasts, into the Great Lakes and replacing it with fresh water then selling such water in Caribbean ports.Where is the oversight at the Gulf of St Lawrence requiring all ships to dump there ballasts before entering our Lakes?
The zebra muscle has been born by this and each one of these little creatures filter 1 litre of water each day.With literally trillions upon trillions of these in Lake Erie, there's been pros and cons of having this invasive species dumped into our lake. With crystal clear waters of which we have been experiencing the last decade or so thanks to the zebra, its understandable why these algae plumes exist.
Scientist with profligately espouse the hyperbole that farmers are the reason for this situation. They always go at an alternate source to fear monger the populaces. Once it was all about the factories, now its the farmers. Such hubris, its pathetic.
Most urban green keepers put 1000x more fertilizer and pesticides on there lawns than a farmer puts on one acre of there land, we don't here that by these so called scientists of expertise!

Excuse me! Where in this forum or anywhere else have you heard that it is entirely the farmers fault? But lets be clear farming is a major source of the problem, simply because of the vast amount of land that is farmed vs residential areas. I am not saying all farmers are responsible and neither are those who study the problem! If you read one of my previous post you will see that I have put the blame where it belongs.

What is causing the severe algae blooms in Grand Lake St. Marys if it is not the run off from farms. There are few is any industries and factories surrounding the lake or located within its water shed. It is almost entirely farmland and feedlots. The residents that border on and get their water from the Lake do not need to have the Green Lawn Guys to spray their lawns, they only need to used the lake water to get all of the needed fertilizer to maintain a beautiful lawn. At times the toxin levels in the lake are 100 times the OEPA standards for safe drinking.

Testing of the farmlands has shown that even before the application of fertilizer the land already has more than is needed to sustain a high yield crop. The lake (actually a manmade reservoir) is a closed system with the added spillways to control flooding during periods of heavy runoff from rain and melting snow and to maintain and retain enough water to facilitate the recreational and residential needs of area residents and tourists.

Shippers dump the ballast water as they enter the Great Lakes system to gain added flotation and decrease the ships draft so they do not run aground in the shallower Great Lakes and locks. Once their cargo is unloaded and refilled with the cargo headed to other markets they then head back out and on to their next port of call.

The algae problem in lake Erie has been around for a lot longer than the zebra mussels have been present in the Great lakes. Zebra Mussels are a fresh water species and do not fare well in salt water. You have it backwards! They want the trans Atlantis cargo ships to empty out the freshwater ballast from Europe and replace it with salt water on their way to the Great Lakes to kill the fresh water species that may still be in the ballast tanks and then do the same as they enter the St Lawrence Seaway and refill with fresh water from the Americas.

Here is an excerpt from the link that follows, I have highlighted the important part.

http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hit...bra_mussel.php

*As a native to Russia, zebra mussels were introduced into the Great Lakes in 1985 or 1986, when one or more transoceanic ships discharged ballast water into Lake St. Clair. Being a temperate, freshwater species, the zebra mussels found the plankton-rich Lakes St. Clair and Erie to their liking. Since this time, zebra mussels have spread throughout the Great Lakes.*