International research flotilla chase giant Lake Erie algal bloom

An international flotilla of scientists fanned out across the western basin of Lake Erie Wednesday, gathering water samples in an effort to learn more about an algal bloom covering much of the area.

Harmful algal blooms or HABshave been a concern in the western basin of Lake Erie for years. In 2014, the issue came to the forefront when toxic blooms shut down the water supply for hundreds of thousands of people in Toledo, Ohio.

This year, a large bloom is again covering much of the American side and it's starting to reach the Canadian mainland near Colchester, Ont.

A multi-agency, multi-university group scientists on eight vessels collected water samples Wednesday morning from roughly 200 locations in a two-hour time span something they call a "HABsGrab."

It's unknown if this year's bloom is toxic, somethingscientists hopeto determine with today's effort.

"This is the first time that they've had Canadian participation," said Mike McKay, executive director of the University of Windsor's Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER).

"When we looked at the effort last year of HABs Grab, you saw a void north of the border line so we wanted to remedy that."

Three Canadian vessels took part: One from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as well astwo other boats from GLIER.

"All of the crews are using the exact same collection techniques, the exact same analytical approaches," explained Ken Drouillard, a University of Windsor professor and member of GLIER.

"The idea is to try and take this snapshot of the bloom conditions in Lake Erie as it was today, and compare it to (theforecasting model)... they want to basically test how accurate that model is."

Samples from all eight vessels will be sent to the United States for testing. Results are expected as soon as next week.