Sandusky Bay algal bloom a no-show so far

SANDUSKY — A scientist who monitors the annual algal bloom in Sandusky Bay has noticed a big surprise: The bloom hasn't shown up yet. "This is an unusual year," says George Bullerjahn, a distinguished research professor at Bowling Green State University's Department of Biological Sciences who has spent years studying the Sandusky Bay algal bloom. "I would have expected a Planktothrix bloom by now, but the total cyanobacterial biomass is way down compared to previous years. The bay has had cyanobacterial blooms for 20 years straight, and to not have one this year is a total surprise," Bullerjahn wrote in an email to the Sandusky Register. While news reports usually refer to a single "harmful algal bloom" in Lake Erie, the western part of the lake usually has two algal blooms every year, produced by two different kinds of cyanobacteria, bacteria that behave like algae. The larger one, which often covers much of the lake and bedevils charter boat fishing captains, is produced by the Microcystis cyanobacteria. It's the bloom that gets most of the news coverage. Scientists have forecast this year's Microcystis bloom will be relatively small. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a Monday email bulletin that this year's bloom is largely confined so far to Maumee Bay, near Toledo. But a second bloom, produced by the Planktothrix cyanobacteria, produces an annual bloom in Sandusky Bay. Or at least it did until now. Bullerjahn, who brings BGSU students to Sandusky every year to carry out research, said he's collecting data to figure out what happened. "The obvious question is 'why is this year different?' We can't say right now, but we have a large number of instruments in the bay recording data every hour of the day, and with these data, we can hopefully identify parameters that are unique to this year," he told the Register. "Of particular interest to us will be the 2020 nutrient concentrations, water level, water clarity and weather data," he wrote in his email.