South Florida GREEN ALGAE ALERT

[WPBdiver]

I think you may have made the cover of the Palm Beach Post today as well. Way to go!!

 

[ONESPEED]

Palm Beach Post article....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/local_news/epaper/2007/03/29/0329algae.html

 

[HowardE]

I agree with you that any publicity is good and I hope they find and correct the cause whatever it is

Yeah. It's great that people have actually been listening and taking some kind of action.

 

[gvhammond]

REMINDER to Watch!
Dan Rather Reports on Florida reefs , Tuesday, April 3rd @ 8 PM
on HDNet.

 

[MantaRey]

Outfall pipes have been used for some time now (even less now than before) so there has to be something else at fault. And even though the algae does happen seasonally I don't remember it being this bad.

I would imagine that along with the sewage; the abnormally warm water we've had this winter is allowing the algae to boom. Because if I'm not mistaken: the species of algae around here doesn't fair too well in cold water. So when we've had a couple weeks of cold water (like around 70F) that was enough to keep the algae from getting too out of hand. This past winter the coldest I've seen was 73F and that was only for a day in a cold water upwelling.

Up here in West Palm we have no algae. Just some patches of the usual red/brown kind. But not nearly as bad as those pics. That's just plain heartbreaking. My guess on this is because we have the gulfstream; which clears up our water pretty quickly while keeping the temperature somewhat constant.

But that of course is based on my amateur knowledge of science. Any aquarium enthusiasts out there? I'd like to know what some of your experiences have been with algae in aquariums. I'm thinking that would offer some valuable insight.

 

[HowardE]

Update on the Algae - In an E-mail I received today...

This is a sad replay of the 1990 Codium bloom, although so far it appears not to have gone as far north. My 1990 videos and photographs show the same smothering to the same degree which is why the PP Post article annoyed me slightly when the guy from some government agency, I can't remember which one, said that this was the worst algae bloom they had seen....short memories. In the years since the 1990 bloom we have had chronic codium blanketing in the Boca area in deeper water although, while still a problem each summer, it never spilled over into areas north as severely as in that first year. I wish to offer a couple of bits of information about the 1990 bloom that may apply here. First, the epicenter of the range was pretty much the same as now, second, we were also in the middle of a drought. Additionally we got some research money and so a tow fish camera survey of the bottom was conducted which identified the growth areas. That was headed by the then FMRI in St. Petersburg which is under the FWC now. The lead FMRI guy was Ed Carlson. You may wish to look at that data for a comparative due to the fact that I suspect that there's a sub bottom nutrient hot spot off Boca. Continental Shelf Associates in Jupiter was also a part of that project. I would recommend calling them. Ask for David Snyder. I strongly suspect that with this particular bloom the outfalls are only icing on the nutrient cake and that the main source of food here is sub bottom flow. This is not offered as any reflection on the Lyngbia problem which is a separate issue. As for the new green bloom, like you, we started out looking at the canals and the pipes but the algae distribution pattern didn't fit well. It's true that often the currents are slower and often run south in this area, thus allowing nutrients to hang around longer but by the end of our study I was convinced of the sub bottom source.

Also from Reef-rescue.org -

Here is a short video showing the recent south Florida green algae bloom. Water and algae samples were collected (3/29/07) from Hillsboro Inlet north to Jupiter and are being analyzed by Harbor Branch, results should be available in one month. We found the bloom covering roughly 15 miles of reef from north of the Hillsboro Inlet to south of the Boynton Inlet. If you have any additional information you would like to share, please email me.

Video: http://www.reef-rescue.org/video/greenalgae-20070331.wmv

Watch the video

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Wow, please watch the video

 

[johnnyseko]

Yeah, that is a shame.

Thanks for the update Howard and for getting the word out.

 

[Sperbonzo]

Very interesting that it doesn't seem to be caused by outflow from canals and pipes...


I hope that they figure this out, or it goes away soon.





(plus you can tell that some of the divers aren't from around here..... They're wearing shorties in the wintertime!!!!!

 

[HowardE]

I'm wondering if the algae growth to the North (of Hillsboro) has increased the fish population to the South of the inlet. The last few dives - I noticed a lot more fish than prior to the algae bloom.