Tons of decaying dead fish invade the beaches of Tampa Bay, Florida, killed by the red algae. But that's not normal.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himAlong the coasts of Tampa Bay, Florida, one is taking place massacre due to the bloom of neurotoxic red algae. They have been found on the beaches hundreds of tons of dead fish, but there are also dolphins and manatees.
Police squads are gradually removing the decaying carcasses, which continually increase with each new tide. According to experts, its death would be the flowering (which occurs once a year in this area) of the toxic and deadly alga, Karenia brevis, which releases a lethal neurotoxin for marine fauna.
⚠️(Graphic Images)⚠️ It's a fish graveyard in southern Pinellas County, from St. Petersburg to Pass-A-Grille Beach.
➡️ Elsa had predominantly SE winds in Tampa Bay. So, the wastewater (& associated dense red tide) near the Piney Point Phosphate mine was blown toward S. Pinellas. pic.twitter.com/sX3C11GlXy
— Bryan Bennett (@weatherbryan) July 8, 2021
But according to oceanographer Richard Stumpf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a bloom of this intensity is somewhat odd in Tampa Bay in the summer. Because blooms usually start in the fall and disappear by January. Furthermore, the summer blooms lately have occurred too often in this area, the last in 2018, when it killed manatees and dolphins.
According to Stumpf, the rains, the wind and the high quantity of phosphorus and nitrogen in the local water, transported by wastewater and polluted, may have affected on the intensity of flowering. Probably the fish have accumulated on the coasts in greater quantities than usual also because they were pushed by the strong winds of the tropical storm Elsa.
But not just the only possible causes. As the Tampa Bay Times reports, according to Justin Bloom, a board member of the environmental groups Tampa Bay and Suncoast Waterkeeper, the accident at a phosphate plant that occurred in April may have contributed to the excessive flowering of the seaweed.
New today: Hillsborough County has closed the beaches at Apollo Beach Nature Park and EG Simmons Park due to red tide in Tampa Bay. Park Ranger at Apollo Beach allowed me to come get some pictures. There’s a lot of dead fish here. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/jl8gddtrEJ
- Tim Wronka (@TimWronka) July 10, 2021
The fact is that it is a real massacre.
SOURCE: NPR
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- Lebanon: 40 tons of dead fish in polluted waters float among the garbage
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