Copyright 1998 The Seattle Times Company
The Seattle Times
February 12, 1998, Thursday Second Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A21
LENGTH: 465 words
HEADLINE: PREDATORY ALGAE BLOOMS CALLED A GROWING THREAT
BYLINE: DAN FAGIN; NEWSDAY
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
BODY:
PHILADELPHIA - Predatory algae blooms are a mysterious and
growing global threat to fish and even humans, scientists said
yesterday as they urged stepped-up efforts to control sewage,
fertilizer and other wastes that feed the blooms.
"We have more toxic algal species and more fisheries impacted.
There's no doubt this problem has expanded significantly in the
last few decades," said Donald Anderson, a senior scientist
at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. Anderson
said that while he believes monitoring efforts are generally protecting
the public from tainted shellfish, he doesn't eat grouper anymore
because some of the toxins that originate in algae concentrate
as they move up the food chain to the largest fish.
At a media briefing yesterday held in conjunction with the
annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, a panel of scientists said the growing reports of
harmful algae are particularly disturbing because so little is
known about what triggers the blooms and where and when they will
appear next.
"It's appalling, absolutely appalling, how little we know
about the basic biochemistry of these organisms," said Rose
Ann Cattolico, a professor of botany at the University of Washington
and an algae expert.
Nationwide, most of the attention has been focused on Pfiesteria,
an algae-like organism that causes lethal open sores on fish
and also releases an airborne toxin that can trigger memory loss
and learning disabilities in humans who are in or near infested
waters.
So far, most of the Pfiesteria blooms have been confined to
coastal North Carolina, but the microscopic organism also has
been blamed for recent massive fish kills in Maryland and Delaware,
and an expert said yesterday no one is sure where it will show
up next. "It's been outsmarting us," said JoAnn Burkholder,
the co-discoverer of Pfiesteria and an associate professor of
botany at North Carolina State University.
Most types of algae are not toxic, and life on Earth couldn't
exist without them because the tiny plants are major processors
of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. But even when algae
don't release toxins, massive blooms can wreak havoc by soaking
up oxygen that fish can't live without.
The dozens of toxic algae species pose a more direct threat.
Algae-induced poisonings frequently afflict shellfish - and sometimes
the people who eat them - in Alaska, Florida and New England,
Anderson said.
Just about the only thing the many different kinds of algae
blooms that have struck coastal waters around the world have in
common is that they generally occur in places where circulation
is poor and the water is unnaturally rich in nutrients, usually
from sewage, animal wastes and fertilizer-laden runoff.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: February 13, 1998