Algae Blooms Called a Growing Threat

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