Extracts from Harmful Algae News for Feb 2025
It’s hardly the kind of publicity one would like to see for Sandy Lake.
The now confirmed, unusually late bloom of BGA (Blue-Green Algae or Cyanobacteria) in Sandy Lake, besides being another warning sign that we can’t take the seemingly near-pristine state of Sandy Lake for granted, appears to be among the latest if not the latest occurring bloom yet reported for Nova Scotia*.
See:
Unusually late occurrence of a Dolichospermum bloom in a Nova Scotia lake
by Linda Campbell, David Patriquin, Michael Agbeti in Harmful Algal News, Februrary 2025 No. 78: pp 10- 11 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14883569 Read online
Conclude the authors, “An early-warning monitoring framework implemented over a longer seasonal period (April – November) is recommended for Sandy Lake and other urban lakes in Nova Scotia.”
The authors express appreciation to “regular Sandy Lake Association volunteers, Ed Glover, Derek Sarty and Bruce S, who watch over the lake”, one of whom viewed the bloom on Nov. 6, 2024 and took a sample of it. Indeed, it’s a good illustration of the value of “citizen science”.
*A NS Gov. web page describes the Blue Green Algae season as May to October. A NS Gov document listing “Reported blue-green algae in previous years” cites 232 occurrences in NS Lakes 2009 to 2023; only 4 of those were in October, 1 in Nov., that for Lochaber Lake in Antigonish in 2014