Toxic Algae Threatens Florida's Gulf Coast

As reported by Discovery News, After Toledo had to temporarily ban residents from using tap water last weekend because of a toxic algae bloom on Lake Erie, you probably figured that we’d filled the quota of bad algae-related news for the summer. No such luck, unfortunately. Off the Gulf Coast of Florida, the biggest red tide bloom seen in Florida in nearly a decade already has killed thousands of fish. The bloom, which contains the microorganism Karenia brevis, may pose a public health threat to Floridians if it washes ashore, which is expected to happen in the next two weeks, according to Reuters. NBC News says this is the largest such bloom seen since 2006 — approximately 50 x 80 miles.

Comments

Re:So...

[Kuroji]

Unlikely. Fertilizer runoff from farms being dumped in a body of water will help algae growth, that's a very large part of what happened in Ohio, because apparently farmers in Ohio are fucking retards who think dumping manure on fields that are FROZEN OVER is a good idea and that it won't just all wash out into the lake there.

Petroleum isn't going to have the same effect by a long shot. There is no algae that eats oil.

An economic and environmental disaster

[Eravnrekaree]

The smell from this can be horrendous and is bad for tourism. Several counties on the West coast of Florida have issued restrictions on the use of fertilizers. The fertilizers used on lawns is blamed for the red tide outbreaks by feeding the organisms, it is believed. The effect on the environment can be harmful in depleting and causing population loss of fish and other species. A large portion of the runoff of fertilizer is from entirely ornamental landscape applications, a complete waste of resources, especially considering the issue of Phosphate depletion. I would like to see a broad restrictions on such fertilizers except for production of food crops. That some people would waste the resource nd threaten the ecosystem, for the vanity of a perfect green yard is outrageous. In Florida, they often use grass species which are pretty much impossible to keep going without these massive applications, such as St. Augustine. When you stop throwing the chemicals on the yard, the St. Augustine will mostly go away.

Re:An economic and environmental disaster

[NoKaOi]

The fertilizers used on lawns is blamed for the red tide outbreaks by feeding the organisms, it is believed.

Not to mention that most people (pro landscapers included) dump a lot more phosphorus than is necessary. A mature lawn needs very little phosphorus fertilizer, and in most areas none at all because the soil has enough. Using a phosphorus free fertilizer, which still contains the nutrients the plant needs such as nitrogen and potassium, is sufficient in most areas. And yet, general purpose fertilizer is often used (flowers and fruit needs phosphorus), and even fertilizer marketed for lawns usually unnecessarily contains fertilizer. And that's all about marketing and distribution. The fertilizer companies want to produce stuff they can market everywhere. Additionally, what are most people who don't know anybody going to buy, the fertilizer that says "27-3-10" or the one that says "27-0-10." The former of course, because 3 is better than 0! And lots of "lawn food" products contain plenty just for good measure without even having the N-P-K ratio on the label.

Education in this area would go a loooong way. Educate the public, the professional landscapers, and the fertilizer suppliers. There are even some municipalities where it's illegal to dump phosphorus containing fertilizer on lawns. Yes, it's easy to get away with breaking that ordinance (especially with the pretty labels at Home Depot), but what having the ordnance does in particular is educate the landscapers who will then buy phosphorus free fertilizer, which will in turn educate (to some degree) the public, and make phosphorus free fertilizer more available and the de facto standard.

Phosphates

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's not forget phosphate mines, or leaks: e.g., Piney Point, Jeb Bush & Friends

http://www.thebradentontimes.com/news/2011/06/22/environment/piney_point_1966_2011_a_retrospective/#.U-gRnviGTgA

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/huge-red-tide-algae-bloom-could-move-ashore-florida-n175506

Spoiler Alert: FTA

[rmdingler]

Red Tide, which happens in other coastal areas as well, is a phenomenon that's been occurring for centuries.

Undoubtedly, there are anthropogenic influences on this and every facet of the environment. Rightfully so, restrictions on fertilizer use are already in place, or pending in, affected areas.

Though it is inconvenient and unprofitable in the short term, the collective conscience of the governed requires the governors to care about and remedy shit like this.

Can be dangerous for humans

[theshowmecanuck]

And when it is a red tide... red tinged algal bloom... it is almost always very harmful and contaminates all the shell fish in the affected area making them toxic to humans... highly toxic. And the effect can last for years. Being sea water people are not likely to drink it, so that is one difference from Ohio.

Re:So...

[TapeCutter]

There's no ice in Queensland, the prevailing ocean currents go south and are replenished by clean water from the coal sea. However fertilizer runoff has been the barrier reef's #1 enemy for decades. We don't get red-tides so much but the runoff triggers the regular crown of thorns plagues whose larvae eat the algae, then as adults eat the coral. The plagues can and do occur naturally, usually after floods from cyclones. The fertilizer both amplifies and increases the frequency of the plagues to the point were the reef does not have enough time between plagues to fully recover.

The reef's in the Caribbean and mediterranean were already heavily damaged when Jack Cousteau was swimming around taking notes in the 60's. Since then Science has discovered that a healthy reef actually has the majority of its biomass stored in large fish such as sharks, a severely degraded reef has the majority of its biomass stored in small fast growing invertebrates and weeds. The only reason the filthy Ganges river has not destroyed the Seychelles and other pristine reefs nearby is that it's mouth is clogged with thousands of acres of mangroves that act as a natural (and extremely efficient) water filter.

Nearly all marine biologists will tell you the answer to the serious problem of collapsing fisheries is to set aside marine parks in specific locations that would cover approximately 5% of the world's coastline and some specific deep sea ridges, virtually everyone else will say there's "plenty of fish in the sea".