Algae Bloom

Is this a problem we can ignore. If we do it will be at our own peril. In a report which is now several years old it was estimated that Lake Erie sports fishing generated an estimated $4,000,000,000 annually. Hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local taxes are derived from this money. Untold jobs are needed to sustain this level of spending. Everyone from the mom and pop motel to the giants like Cedar Point are beneficiaries of this annual bonanza.

The algae bloom is endangering all of this. I hear a lot of people say “I don’t care it’s a fishermen's problem” . They couldn’t be more wrong. It can and will affect us all. It has already started. Last year the algae bloom was so bad in the western basin that it was almost impossible to fish in the area of the bloom. Do you know what fishermen do when they can’t catch fish in an area. They go where they can catch fish. Do you know where that area is? It’s on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.

One of the areas biggest charter companies fished in Canadian waters almost as much as in Ohio waters last year. The fishermen will adapt. If the fishing is on the Canadian side that is where they will go. If it is too costly to go to Canadian waters they will switch to inland lakes and streams.

The fish population has fallen steadily over the past seven years. The fish biologists say it is due to weather and other factors with one of them being the algae bloom. We can’t control the weather but we can control the algae bloom. Sure it will be expensive but can we afford not to fix it.

The problem is staring us in the face yet the only thing I have seen our state and local officials do is debate it and study it. Neither of these will fix it. An article on the front page of tonights Sandusky Register states “Local streams feed lake algae” Really! We already knew that. The time for study and debate is over. We know that farm runoff, poorly maintained septic systems and overflow from municipal sewage systems are the culprits. Some of those hundreds of millions in tax revenues need to come back to the local areas so we can start addressing the problem.

In my view it is Economics 101. The sports fishing industry provides the revenue. If the problem isn’t addressed the revenue goes away. That should be all our state officials need to know.