Weird Weather Watch: Killer Algae Bloom
| Wed Jun. 6, 2007 12:15 PM PDT
Sea lions (pictured) and elephant seals are sick and dying off the coast of California due to a record algae bloom. Algae produces domoic acid, which is toxic to sea mammals in large doses. "In over 22 years of marine mammal rescues, I've never seen such distress of marine mammals," said Peter Wallerstein of the Whale Rescue Team, a private marine mammal rescue group. Researchers aren't sure what caused the massive bloom, but their suspects include climate change, pollution, and shifting nutrients in the water.
For Mother Jones' coverage of the effects of climate change and pollution on the ocean, click here.
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Submitted by Kathleen O'Lane (not verified) on Mon Jun. 11, 2007 8:02 PM PDT.
I have been seriously harmed, stonewalled, made destitute, and watched my pets and plants die due to excessive exposure to raw sewage and God knows how many other manner of things mixing with a marsh in my flooding rented backyard. The biproducts of this sort of pollution are what hurt me, amongst them toxin producing strains of algae, fungus, and bacteria. I am battling indescribably complex and painful health problems for which I am receiving zero help due to the corporate and political interests that block my way to solutions. This stuff is a deadly killer! It is happening all over the planet..... but most noticably where there are high degrees of agricultural activity and/or human sewage issues affecting the state of the soil and water.
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