Algae off B.C. coast forces toxin closures for shellfish
Saturday, August 8, 2015, 1:08 PM - A widespread bloom of algae off the B.C. and down to California has experts worried about the consequences it could have on the marine life and local economy.
A recent survey by American scientists revealed that the area covered in toxic algae is far deeper and more widespread than experts had thought just a couple of weeks back. It goes from Alaska to California and has forced fisheries to shut down.
On August 7, the Department of Fishers and Oceans released an updated report informing of widespread marine toxin closures for bivalve shellfish (including oysters, clams, scallops, mussels and geoduck) for much of the west coast. Back in June, the algae have led to fisheries bans in three different areas of Vancouver Island, according to Elysha Gordon, shellfish sanitation program co-ordinator for Fisheries and Oceans in a conversation with the Vancouver Sun
According to Health Canada guidelines, the domoic acid level needs to exceed 20 micrograms per gram of tissue to trigger a ban.
These algae blooms aren't uncommon. Lake Erie is going through something similar right now.
”The world's water- both fresh and marine- contains a large variety of single-cell plants called microalgae. The individual plants are usually so small they require a microscope to be seen. When conditions are right, often in the summer in this area, one species of algae will multiply in great numbers. This is called a plankton bloom,” Parks Canada said on their website. “Depending on the most common species of algae in the bloom the water colour may change. In this area blooms are often brown, red or blue. Many of the blooms in marine waters are red which has lead to the common term red tide.”
However this year, the red tide is lasting longer than scientists had hoped and that could be due to ‘the Blob’ of warm water that has parked itself off the west coast.
”We’ve seen record high temperatures all along the B.C. coast,” said Ian Perry to the Vancouver Sun. Perry is a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “The really ‘nice’ period of weather we’ve been having — sunshine, not much freshwater runoff because of no rain — it helps produce conditions that are really conducive to these organisms.”
Source: Vancouver Sun | Huffington Post | DFO | Parks Canada
