The primary outcomes for this project have been met. A set of environmental quality metrics that quantitatively measure the health of the algal phytoplankton assemblages in the Lake Erie nearshore have been created. The methods for collection and analysis have been determined and tested and an initial evaluation of the metrics within the limits of this project was made. The most promising metrics are two diatom metrics, one based on relative abundance and the other on biovolume, calibrated to total phosphorus and a soft algae metric based on relative abundance calibrated to total phosphorus. These metrics may show significant trends with the phosphorus gradient when challenged with sufficient data. The effectiveness of the metrics is inconclusive from this study. The next step in the development of these metrics is more rigorous analysis in a pilot project. These metrics may address the severe need for biological metrics for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Lake Erie monitoring stations.