This has been the worst year in the Rochester Embayment since 1999, and
possibly 1997. Spiro gyra started early, and Cladophora showed up by July
4th and has persisted since. Now we have fresh Spiro gyra growing on top
of the mats. A couple of storms removed some of the material from Ontario
Beach, but new material collects after each storm. I think this large
amount of productivity in the near nearshore of Lake Ontario this year is
related to the past year's weather. We had a spring-like December and
January, with warmer than usual temperatures and all precipitation as rain.
Then February and March brought snow and an ice pack formed under the snow.
This resulted in a relatively concentrated release of nutrients during
spring runoff . April was cold, but beginning in May we had warmer than
normal temperature, almost no precipitation, and California-like sunshine.
With nutrient caught in the nearshore and ideal growing conditions, we got
a bumper crop of algae.
Our cleanup efforts in the past have involved use of a modified York Rake
for larger accumulations of algae (this was sold last year as we didn't
have algae for a few years- NEVER SELL EQUIPMENT), use of a Barber Surf
Rake for picking up smaller accumulations on the sand (this works but is
ineffective when sand accumulations get to be more than about an inch
thick) and using a front end loader operated in the water to create a wave
action parallel to shore to push the floating algae down the beach away
from the swimming area. This last practice has been very effective in the
past, but we were told by the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation that this "herding" activity falls under Article 15,
protection of waters act, for New York, so did not do it this year for lack
of a permit. We also had a weed harvester built in the late 1990's with a
modified system involving a conveyor to remove the material from the
shallows and get it into trucks for removal. This failed to work properly
as the Cladophora, which had traditionally come in in long strands, began
to show up as a slurry, hypothetically chopped up by the sharp edges of
zebra mussel shells. This year's algae had a more traditional consistency,
maybe reflecting less zebra mussels in the area where Cladophora is
growing. A good operator can pick up a certain amount of the algae off the
top of the sand, but unless your beach is very small, this is time
consuming and expensive. Any ideas others have had that are working are
certainly welcome.
The attached pictures will proved a sense of the magnitude here.
Charles L. Knauf
Environmental Health Project Analyst
Monroe County Health Department
111 Westfall Road Room 976
Rochester, NY 14692
cknauf@monroecounty.gov
(585) 753-5440
fax (585) 753-5098
(See attached file: BeachPhotos 018.jpg)(See attached file: BeachPhotos
028.jpg)(See attached file: Beaches081707 007.jpg)
"Culp, Jason"
<jculp@stcatharin
es.ca> To
Sent by: "'beachnet@great-lakes.net'"
owner-beachnet@gr <beachnet@great-lakes.net>
eat-lakes.net cc
Subject
08/27/07 11:56 AM Great Lakes Algae Issues
Good morning everyone,
I was wondering how other beaches in the Great Lakes area are fairing for
algae conditions in the past few weeks. In St. Catharines, it is becoming
quite a concern with a couple of the beaches in particular.
Also, what are others doing with regards to algae control measures? Here
we currently rake any material we can from the shallow waters and
shoreline, but this of course isn't effective for the finer, decaying
material that forms the green/black mess that creates the majority of the
resident complaints.
Thanks.
Jason Culp
City of St. Catharines
LSSC, 383 Lake Street
St. Catharines, ON L2N 4H5
phone: 905.688.5601 ext. 2194
e-mail: jculp@stcatharines.ca
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