Mysterious blob may be killing marine life (Hood Canal dead zones)

[Barrett808]

Mysterious blob may be killing marine life
By GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Some of Washington state's top leaders met in Olympia Friday to discuss what a thick, gooey blob on the bottom of Hood Canal means for the marine life there.

On the surface Hood Canal shows no signs its struggle to breathe. But below the surface, its a different story. Divers this week found the bottom littered with fish carcasses. Then Skomokish tribal divers found a thick coating of mysterious goo creeping along the bottom and dozens of dead crabs coated with the substance.

Biologists knew right away what it was.

"The observation is of mats of white bacteria and what these are, they're quite common in anoxic regions, areas where there's low oxygen,” said Jan Newton, a University of Washington oceanographer.

They're called beggiotoa mats. Could this be the cause of the massive fish kill at the south end of Hood Canal this week? Dozens or more different species were found: three different kinds of crab and three different kinds of perch. Tests show the fish are suffocating in oxygen-deprived water.

(more)

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_092206ENBhoodcanalEL.847bfed.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Too much nitrogenous waste is being dumped into our

oceans in the form of fertilizer runoff and partially or untreated sewage. It causes overgrowth of undesirable algae, which uses up all the oxygen in the water.This is the logical outcome. I don't know why people are surprised.

Humans are such pigs.

Wait, that's unfair. Even pigs know better than to crap where they lie and eat.

[Igel]

7. Usually.

Near where I grew up there were occasional fish kills that resulted from overly warm water. Warm water can't hold as much oxygen as cold, and the overpopulated slow-moving river would start losing fish. They'd rot and suck more oxygen out of the water.

The fertilizers probably helped make the die-offs more frequent, but fish kills were documented back in the 1700s.

More of an irritant, really, than anything else; when the temps cooled down a bit and the oxygen levels rose, all was well until the next heat wave 3-4 years later.

[Chipper Chat]

2. Blobs are bad.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. That's what happens

when you keep shitting in your own nest.

I live on an algae lake. It totally changes what kinds of animals can live there. It still supports and amazing variety of wildlife but
there are certainly animals that we've lost completely like the apple snails and birds that eat them.

[louis-t]

4. Sorry, I had to.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Some of Washington state's top leaders met in Olympia Friday to discuss what a thick, gooey blob on the bottom of Hood Canal means for the marine life there.

On the surface Hood Canal shows no signs its struggle to breathe. But below the surface, its a different story. Divers this week found the bottom littered with fish carcasses. Then Skomokish tribal divers found a thick coating of mysterious goo creeping along the bottom and dozens of dead crabs coated with the substance.

Biologists knew right away what it was.

"It was Karl Rove. He comes here this time of year and bathes in the ice cold waters.

Could this be the cause of the massive fish kill at the south end of Hood Canal this week? Dozens or more different species were found: three different kinds of crab and three different kinds of perch. Tests show the fish are suffocating in oxygen-deprived water.

[Mrs. Overall]

5. The nuclear sub base, Bangor, is located on Hood Canal--

we camped along Hood Canal this summer and with my binoculars I watched some submarine exercises going on one morning. Crabbing and fishing boats were not allowed to be on the water while the exercise took place. I do wonder if there is some connection between the nuclear base and the die off of marine life. Hood Canal is not really that large, so I imagine the impact of the base is significant.

[skids]

6. Add another to my list...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/7/19551/46757