Yellow Sea turns green from algae disaster
The largest algae bloom in China’s history has turned the Yellow Sea coast off the eastern city of Qingdao into a green swamp. The massive algae carpet has been largely attributed to pollution from agriculture and industry.
According to Xinhua news agency, officials in Qingdao had used bulldozers to remove 7,335 tonnes of the growth from beaches so far. The algae have been returning annually to the region over the past six summers. This year’s incident has swathed 28,900 square kilometers, double the area of the previous biggest bloom in 2008.
The algae as such are not toxic, but they block sunlight from entering the ocean and suck oxygen from the water, suffocating marine life.
China Daily quoted professor Bao Xianwen of the Qingdao-based Ocean University of China as saying: “It must have something to do with the change in the environment, but we are not scientifically sure about the reasons.”
Other experts say that the appearance of the algae is not “natural”, but a result of massive discharge of phosphates or nitrates into the water from farming, untreated sewage or industrial waste.
The largest algae bloom in China's history has turned the Yellow Sea coast off the eastern city of Qingdao into a green swamp. The massive algae carpet has been largely attributed to pollution from agriculture and industry. According to Xinhua news agency, officials in Qingdao had used bulldozers to remove 7,335 tonnes of the growth from beaches so far. The algae have been returning annually to the region over the past six summers. This year's incident has swathed 28,900 square kilometers, double the area of the previous biggest bloom in 2008. The algae as such are not toxic, but they...
The largest algae bloom in China’s history has turned the Yellow Sea coast off the eastern city of Qingdao into a green swamp. The massive algae carpet has been largely attributed to pollution from agriculture and industry.
According to Xinhua news agency, officials in Qingdao had used bulldozers to remove 7,335 tonnes of the growth from beaches so far. The algae have been returning annually to the region over the past six summers. This year’s incident has swathed 28,900 square kilometers, double the area of the previous biggest bloom in 2008.
The algae as such are not toxic, but they block sunlight from entering the ocean and suck oxygen from the water, suffocating marine life.
China Daily quoted professor Bao Xianwen of the Qingdao-based Ocean University of China as saying: “It must have something to do with the change in the environment, but we are not scientifically sure about the reasons.”
Other experts say that the appearance of the algae is not “natural”, but a result of massive discharge of phosphates or nitrates into the water from farming, untreated sewage or industrial waste.
