Record levels of toxic algae hurt coastline

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-14-red-tide-algae_N.htm

Record levels of toxic algae hurt coastline

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

Large swaths of toxic algae have punished U.S. coastal towns at record levels this year, shutting down shellfish harvests and sickening swimmers from Maine to Texas to Seattle.

The algal blooms stretch for hundreds of miles in some areas in a phenomenon known as "red tides" and give off toxins that sicken fish and birds and can cause paralysis in humans, said Wayne Litaker, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The blooms have been getting increasingly larger and more toxic since 2004, causing an estimated $100 million a year in damage to the country's seafood and tourism industries, he said.

This year, the algal blooms:

• Forced the closure of Maine's bivalve shellfish harvest, which includes clams, oysters and mussels, from early April to September — a first in state history, according to state biologists.


• Killed more than 4 million fish off the coast of Texas, according to the state Parks and Wildlife Department.


• Emitted a soaplike foam that coated the wings of seabirds off the Northwest coast, killing more than 10,000 of them, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

…

[truedelphi]

1. We have algae shutting down our lake locally

it affects the tourism a great deal in mid summer.

But local community groups are planning on seeing if we cannot start harvesting the algae for bio fuels. So maybe there will be a silver lining.