ID :
61546
Wed, 05/20/2009 - 16:58
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/61546
The shortlink copeid
Environmental officials look for ways to stem red tide
Abu Dhabi, May 20, 2009 (WAM) - UAE environmental authorities are exploring all avenues to find answers to the red tide problem. Potential solutions include a zooplankton capable of feeding on the algal blooms that cause the red tide phenomenon and a clay mixture sometimes sprayed on affected areas to weigh down the algae according to a report in Gulf News.
While no individual measure has so far proved successful, marine experts have reiterated that red tide, currently three to four nautical miles off the Dubai coastline and one mile off Umm Al Qaiwain, is not dangerous or toxic to residents and swimmers.
Ebrahim Al Jamali, a red tide expert and director of the Marine Resource Research Centre at the Ministry of Environment and Water said sightings of red tide in Dubai, Umm Al Qaiwain and on the East Coast are likely as it has not dispersed entirely. As a natural phenomenon, the algal bloom is expected to come and go.
The algal bloom in the Arabian Gulf has been identified as the same species which showed up in coastal waters between Khorfakkan and Dibba on the East Coast, he told Gulf News.
Clay flocculation, a technique used to sink harmful algae by spraying a clay mixture over blooms, is being looked into in the UAE but environmental impacts on the marine seabed and organisms are unclear, Al Jamali said.
The algae species responsible for red tide, cochlodinium polykrikoides, is associated with extensive fish kills and economic loss in Japanese and Korean waters where clay flocculation is widely used. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, clay to control harmful algal blooms has been explored in East Asia, Australia, the United States, and Sweden.
"It is usually used in aqua culture and caged farming but we cannot use it here because it can kill life on the sea bottom and coral reefs. We are looking at a lot of options and it isn't easy," Al Jamali said. "It is also used around desalination plants so it could be used here as they are not near coral reefs, usually."
Al Jamali said he had conducted a lot of research to find a zooplankton that eats the cochlodinium algae species but trials so far have been unsuccessful.
In Florida research is ongoing to see if phytoplankton, or grazers, are capable of detoxifying waters containing red tide. The phytoplankton do not always kill the harmful algal blooms [caused by another species called Karenia brevis] - but remove the dissolved toxin from the water.
Al Jamali said the UAE is looking at many options of collaboration with its regional neighbours through a committee formed to tackle the impact of red tide in the Arabian Gulf.
Clay flocculation, a technique used to sink harmful algae by spraying a clay mixture over blooms, is being looked into in the UAE but environmental impacts on the marine seabed and organisms are unclear, Al Jamali said.
While no individual measure has so far proved successful, marine experts have reiterated that red tide, currently three to four nautical miles off the Dubai coastline and one mile off Umm Al Qaiwain, is not dangerous or toxic to residents and swimmers.
Ebrahim Al Jamali, a red tide expert and director of the Marine Resource Research Centre at the Ministry of Environment and Water said sightings of red tide in Dubai, Umm Al Qaiwain and on the East Coast are likely as it has not dispersed entirely. As a natural phenomenon, the algal bloom is expected to come and go.
The algal bloom in the Arabian Gulf has been identified as the same species which showed up in coastal waters between Khorfakkan and Dibba on the East Coast, he told Gulf News.
Clay flocculation, a technique used to sink harmful algae by spraying a clay mixture over blooms, is being looked into in the UAE but environmental impacts on the marine seabed and organisms are unclear, Al Jamali said.
The algae species responsible for red tide, cochlodinium polykrikoides, is associated with extensive fish kills and economic loss in Japanese and Korean waters where clay flocculation is widely used. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, clay to control harmful algal blooms has been explored in East Asia, Australia, the United States, and Sweden.
"It is usually used in aqua culture and caged farming but we cannot use it here because it can kill life on the sea bottom and coral reefs. We are looking at a lot of options and it isn't easy," Al Jamali said. "It is also used around desalination plants so it could be used here as they are not near coral reefs, usually."
Al Jamali said he had conducted a lot of research to find a zooplankton that eats the cochlodinium algae species but trials so far have been unsuccessful.
In Florida research is ongoing to see if phytoplankton, or grazers, are capable of detoxifying waters containing red tide. The phytoplankton do not always kill the harmful algal blooms [caused by another species called Karenia brevis] - but remove the dissolved toxin from the water.
Al Jamali said the UAE is looking at many options of collaboration with its regional neighbours through a committee formed to tackle the impact of red tide in the Arabian Gulf.
Clay flocculation, a technique used to sink harmful algae by spraying a clay mixture over blooms, is being looked into in the UAE but environmental impacts on the marine seabed and organisms are unclear, Al Jamali said.
