Posted on 09/02/2022 4:18:52 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Thousands of dead fish and other marine life carcasses are washing ashore in the San Francisco Bay Area, creating a foul smell. Experts point to an unprecedented "red tide" algae bloom as the mostly likely cause.
Abnormal numbers of dead crabs, bat rays, striped bass, white sturgeon and more have been spotted throughout the Bay area over the last week, officials say, notably at Oakland's Lake Merritt. The start of the fish die-off could date back even further—as the harmful algae bloom has been spreading since late July.
The carcasses are worrying environmental scientists, as they mark a devastating loss to marine life. Experts also fear that the impacts could worsen over the weekend's expected heatwave, which could cause the harmful algae bloom to grow even more.
What is a red tide? Why is it killing fish?
While many algae blooms are beneficial to ocean life, a "red tide" is a harmful algal bloom—which can produce powerful, fatal toxins and/or cause a water's oxygen to fall past levels needed for survival, the National Ocean Service notes. The Bay area's current bloom was formed by a microorganism called Heterosigma akashiwo.
"This species is associated with massive fish kills elsewhere," Jon Rosenfield, fishery ecologist at the environmental nonprofit San Francisco Baykeeper, told the Stockton Record, part of the U.S. TODAY Network. "It is unknown, at this point, whether the bloom is causing a drop in dissolved oxygen ... or producing a toxin that kills fish, or both."
Algae blooms are not uncommon, but Rosenfield added that the Bay Area's current red tide is "unprecedented in its spatial extent and duration."
"Small, short-lived algal blooms around the Bay's margins are not uncommon. ... But nothing of this scope has been reported before in the Bay-proper," he said.
When did the Bay Area's harmful algae bloom start?
This harmful algae bloom was first spotted in the Alameda Estuary, executive officer of San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board Eileen White told The Associated Press. White added that the bloom has been spreading since late July.
Most algae blooms end after about a week. But a triple-digit heat wave forecast for the upcoming Labor Day weekend may cause the Bay Area's bloom to grow even more, White said. "We don't know when it's going to end," she said.
White noted that treating the water for nutrients would cost billions of dollars. Water districts are currently funding studies to understand the effects of nutrients that have been present in the water since people settled in the area, she said. "The goal is to make the appropriate regulations based on sound science."
How many fish have died?
There's no way to know the total number of fish that have died so far, Rosenfield said, noting that people are seeing just a fraction of the affected fish wash up dead on the Bay's shores.
Damon Tighe, a self-described citizen scientist, has been among those monitoring the fish kill in Lake Merritt. On Sunday, Tighe posted a map to show locations around the lake where fish had perished—as part of a project for naturalists, biologists and more to collect sightings on iNaturalist, a social network from the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic Society used to share biodiversity observations worldwide.
Tighe estimates that more than 10,000 fish have died since August 28.
"I have never seen an event this bad," he told the Stockton Record. "Everything is dying; gobies, flounders, crabs, polychaete works, shrimp, everything."
Or perhaps, tons of homeless poop washing off city streets into the Bay every day?
I’m guessing a sizeable portion of the SF population don’t like the smell of fish.
Or the fish are just committing suicide when they find out they are near SF.
so scoop them up and make fertilizer ,LOL
I feel bad for the innocent fishes.
That said, its a perfect metaphor locally and nationally.
I first experienced a red tide at Huntington Beach, Calif. in 1960. The water was the color of root beer, but we still went swimming in it.
Whatever you do, DON’T go swimming in San Francisco Bay; you’ll be dead in five minutes.
Buttmonkey pox
Are you sure it’s fish and not Pelosi?
I remember the red tides in Southern California when I was young - we went in the water anyway - and all of us survived.
God only knows what is in the Bay in San Francisco - it always looks - and smells - filthy.
LOL, I caught that.
Algae blooms happen along the Pacific coast. No big deal. I don’t think it’s really newsworthy.
Probably from all the sewerage coming up the coast from Mehico.
Roll Tide.
True. That innuendo was even known in the early 1900s songs such as:
Rag, Mama, Rag / What’s That Smells Like Fish?
By Blind Boy Fuller
“What’s that smell like fish, mama?”
“Food, if you really want to know.”
“What’s that smell like fish, baby?”
“Food, if you really wants to know.”
“Smell like puddin’ and it ain’t no pie.
Same thing that you know you have to buy.
Make you weep and it’ll make you moan.
Same doggone thing made me leave my home.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904 – February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and singer.
Did Pelosi take a swim?
Nancy Pelosi was sitting on pier dangling her tootsies in the water.
I wonder what the Sacramento river outflows are to the San Francisco bay. The ecofreaks demanded high flows from the dams for a bait fish. I am wondering if now during a bad drought, their earlier releases have dropped flows so low that it is hurting the estuary.
Liberals are idiots. Truly. No reasoning. No common sense. Just tyrannical idiology and control.
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