Algal bloom persists in Sandusky Bay

SANDUSKY — The harmful algal bloom in the western basin of Lake Erie is almost gone, but it endures in Sandusky Bay."Microcystis cyanobacteria continues to decline in the western basin of Lake Erie," said a Monday email bulletin on Lake Erie from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Chlorophyl associated with Microcystis is no longer visible along the Ohio coast from Maumee Bay State Park to the Marblehead Peninsula. The persistent cyanobacteria bloom in Sandusky Bay continues."George Bullerjahn, a Bowling Green State University biologist who has studied the Sandusky Bay bloom for years, said Monday it's not a surprise the Sandusky Bay bloom has outlasted the main harmful algal bloom. That happens every year, Bullerjahn said.Bullerjahn, a distinguished research professor at the university's department of biological sciences, said the larger bloom in the western basin is produced by the cyanobacterium Microcystis. The local Sandusky Bay algal bloom, however, is produced by the Planktothrix cyanobacterium.Planktothrix thrives in cooler water, so it gets going earlier and persists later during the year, Bullerjahn said. While Microcystis needs temperatures of 25 degrees to 27 degrees Celsius to thrive, Plantothrix can grow in water with temperatures ranging from 18 degrees to 28 degrees Celsius (about 64 degrees and higher in Fahrenheit).As a result, the big bloom in the western basin gets started about mid-July, but the Plantothrix bloom in Sandusky Bay takes off in late May.The Sandusky Bay bloom sometimes keeps going until Halloween, although Bullerjahn guesses the current bloom won't last that long. It's declining, he said."I can only speculate but I'd say mid-October," he said.He said Muddy Creek Bay, in the upper Sandusky Bay area, is seeing healthy algae, as opposed to the Planktothrix.Satellite images show a harmful algal bloom persists in Sandusky Bay, although it's almost gone in the western basin of Lake Erie. George Bullerjahn and two of his students looking at water from Lake Erie.