ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Officials in the Red River Valley are trying to find a way to improve the health of a declining fishery in Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba.
The fishery has a dead zone that is expanding because nutrients like phosphorus are flowing in through the Red River. The nutrients cause large algae blooms.
Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/y80XEX) reports that Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba plan to work together to fix the problem.
Lance Yohe is executive director of the Red River Basin Commission.
He says Minnesota's new basin-wide approach to monitoring river health will help determine where nutrients are coming from. He says that's the first step toward fixing the problem.
Possible solutions include creating more natural buffers to filter farm field runoff or identifying and fixing failing septic systems.
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mpr.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
