News items from Eutrophication News

During the summer of 2005, Ben Williams, owner of Fishermen’s Dock Seafood in Jacksonville, was grappling with an unusual problem: Though Northeast Florida is home to thousands of species of fish and is well known for its booming shrimp industry, his customers weren’t interested.

On March 9, 2011, the International Joint Commission (IJC) issued its 15th Biennial Report (Report), which is issued every other year pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (Agreement) between the United States and Canada. The Agreement requires the IJC to report on progress towards meeting the Agreement's objectives of improving and protecting the quality of boundary waters, including the Great Lakes.

Phosphorus running off into lakes contributes to blue-green algal growth. That's not news. But what happened on a large lake in Ohio last year is big news. The 'perfect storm' of dry weather and phosphorus runoff produced an algal bloom on this large commercial lake that literally shut down businesses and closed beaches. Now, homeowners and shopkeepers around the lake are in the process of considering a class action lawsuit against farmers in the watershed since the root cause was phosphorus that ran off from land in the watershed and eventually into the lake.

Last July NASA released a world map that identifies hundreds of areas in the world's oceans with dangerously low oxygen levels. These hypoxic areas - virtually uninhabitable for most marine life - are a result of eutrophication, or too many nutrients from fertilizer runoff and sewage discharges finding their way into coastal waters.

Reducing pollution of the Baltic Sea from agricultural run-off is now a top priority, says Ministry of the Environment advisor Silver Vahtra.

LAKE GEORGE -- Without a little help from the public, Lake George officials are going to have a tough time enforcing a new ban on phosphorus-based fertilizers.

The bugs living in the muck at the deepest darkest depths of Lake Tahoe have disappeared in substantial numbers, and it’s a sign of changes throughout the pristine lake’s ecosystem over the past 40 to 50 years.

A mysterious resurgence of phosphorus in the Great Lakes is endangering the aquatic food chain and human health, says a binational agency that advises Canada and the U.S.

After analyzing eight lagoons and measuring the abundance of four nitrogen cycling genes, researchers concluded that the denitrifying and nitrifying organisms were not active despite there being a thriving amount. Acidification and eutrophication of the surrounding ecosystem could be the result of prolonged exposure to volatilized ammonia.

Reduced levels of oxygen in the water and the use of illegal fishing methods have hurt the fishing business in Turkey’s Marmara Sea, according to Osman Kocaman, the head of the Chamber of Commerce in Bandırma.

Environmentalists and farmers traded barbs over the Chesapeake Bay cleanup Thursday, with one side decrying the influence of big agriculture companies and the other side pointing at urban pollution

Virginia (Chesapeake Bay) - The ingredients of your home lawn fertilizer will be changing soon to help reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, under bills passed by the General Assembly

You may have calculated your carbon footprint, but what about your nitrogen footprint? The International Nitrogen Initiative hopes to solve the nitrogen dilemma with education.
University of Virginia scientists and several other collaborators from as far away as the Netherlands launched the N-Print website last week as part of the International Nitrogen Initiative.

Ireland - Today’s report indicates that the most widespread cause of water pollution in Ireland is still nutrient enrichment, resulting mainly from agricultural run-off and discharges from town sewage plants.

Australia - THE City of Swan will create an artificial wetland at Ballajura’s Emu Lake in an attempt to solve the lake’s ongoing algal bloom problem.

New Zealand - Bay of Plenty Regional Council is treating Okawa Bay on Lake Rotoiti today with a product to prevent potentially toxic blue-green algae blooming on the lake. Lake Operations Manager Andy Bruere said the Regional Council had been alerted to a risk of the harmful algae forming in its routine monitoring, and from its environmental advisors, including Professor David Hamilton of Waikato University.

Climate change could increase our exposure to water-borne disease from ocean, coastal and lake ecosystems, scientists told a conference in Washington today.

A new study co-authored by a UW-Madison ecologist concludes that the earth’s ecosystem has passed a dangerous tipping point: The amount of phosphorus leeching into freshwater systems, largely due to farm fertilizer, has crossed the threshold of what constitutes “a safe operating space for humanity on Earth.” Ironically, dwindling phosphorus reserves could mitigate the problem but create a new crisis for the agricultural industry in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Fisherman Ray Brokenshire has called a public meeting to address the degradation of the Opihi and Opuha Rivers. The Temuka man, who has been an outspoken proponent for addressing water conditions in South Canterbury rivers will lead a gathering next Wednesday in an attempt to form a community group to lobby for improved water conditions.