Mississippi Beaches Have Been Vacant For Two Months As A Toxic Algae Bloom Lurks Offshore [View all]

Huffington Post
ENVIRONMENT 09/08/2019 06:00 am ET
By Rocky Kistner

...this year, a new threat has emerged: an explosion of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, that has shut down virtually all of Mississippi’s beaches since July 4. No one knows when the algae will disappear, and many wonder how many businesses that operate in the region will survive the hit.

Scientists have never seen anything like this before in the ocean off’s Mississippi coast ― blue-green algal blooms are normally confined to fresh-water species. Mississippi officials say the bloom is the result of record flooding this year in the Midwest, which has pushed a deluge of polluted, nitrogen-rich water down the Mississippi River. It has forced state officials to issue water and health advisories warning people to stay out of the water and to avoid contaminated seafood.

Mississippi shrimp, crab and finfish catches are all down this year, according to state officials. Fishermen say the ocean is just as deserted as the beaches, as many boat captains want to avoid burning fuel while getting nothing in return. Some described spotting dead sea turtles lined up on the barrier islands, and running through unusual masses of dead fish and hyacinth grass floating in the water.

“I’ve never seen this before,” said Tommy O’Brien, a fisherman from Pascagoula, Mississippi. A recent nine-day trip brought in red snapper catch worth less than $8,000, he said, which is a quarter of what he usually gets. “When the blue-green algae die, there will be another fish kill,” he said. “The in-shore fish could take years to recover.”

Ryan Bradley, executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, said it’s a “dire situation” in the Gulf. After several decades of disasters, this one may be the worst because no one knows when the algal bloom will end, he said.

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