Ecosystem heats up in lakes
High temperatures spurring growth

"By the end of June, the water was as warm as it normally is in mid- to late August," Algonac charter fishing boat captain Tom Loy, who operates on Lake St. Clair, said Tuesday. He has recorded 80-degree water temperatures twice this year, the first time in almost a quarter-century of fishing on the lake that he has seen the water so warm.

"We may see blue-green algae earlier than normal," which is late August or early September, said Gary Towns, a fisheries biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "And it may be more numerous and more dense." It's part of a natural cycle, said Towns, who recorded a 78-degree temperature in the Detroit River last week.

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