Burke Center urges steps to confront Lake Superior harmful algal blooms

Government agencies should move quickly to address a worsening problem of harmful algal blooms on Lake Superior by funding more research into what causes the outbreaks along with support for a new real-time buoy array in the lake to help detect and analyze the blooms, according to a new report and video released today by the Burke Center for Ecosystem Research.

The new white paper and video were developed after an invitation-only water summit held in Duluth in June. The event included more than two dozen natural resource managers, scientists, and stakeholders, gathered by the Burke Center to examine the alarming spate of harmful algal blooms that have emerged in the largest of the Great Lakes since 2012.

“Unfortunately, the algal bloom era has arrived on Lake Superior,” said Peter Annin, Burke Center executive director. “The point of the summit, the white paper, and the video, is to raise the profile of this alarming issue and attract funding so that scientists can get a better handle on what is happening and provide guidance on binational management actions that can help the region attack this emerging problem.”

The white paper includes eight concrete recommendations, including stepped-up funding for Lake Superior under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, as well as creating a new binational algal-bloom real-time buoy network throughout much of the lake.

“We need buoys because it takes a lot to get boats out on the water and to get to the sites where a bloom is occurring,” says Cherie Hagen, Lake Superior program manager with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “So if there are buoys there, that can capture the data and the information we need, that’s critical.”

Leading Great Lakes experts will participate in a panel discussion about Superior’s harmful algal bloom problem on Tuesday, Sept. 8, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the UW-Superior Yellowjacket Union Great Room, 1605 Catlin Ave, Superior, Wis.

The white paper was written by John Flesher, retired environment reporter with the Associated Press. It was edited by Annin, a longtime water author and environment reporter in the Great Lakes region and beyond.