Guest guest Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 ***************************Advertisement*************************** TechCentral http://star-techcentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/10/7/features/6099627 & sec=f\ eatures ________________________ Tuesday October 7, 2003 Murky waters of the Baltic By NINA GARLO Expanding blooms of algae threaten to smother the Baltic and choke marine life, reports NINA GARLO. IT sounds like a bad 1950s science fiction movie: ugly green slime spreading through the sea, killing fish and threatening children and animals that swim in the water. But experts say this scenario could become reality in the Baltic, the world & #8217;s largest brackish water sea, surrounded by 14 countries in which about 85 million people live, unless tougher controls on toxic waste and the disposal of nutrients are introduced. Outbreaks of poisonous algaes have worsened in past decades, annoying fishermen and owners of summer homes on the Baltic. Despite some tougher environmental controls, 2003 is expected to be a bad year for blue-green algae. A byproduct of heavy industry, it contains a liver toxic particularly dangerous to small children and has caused deaths in dogs and cattle. It is also blamed for skin and respiratory conditions. The algae is also blamed for depleting fish stocks, partly due to the decomposition of dead algae blooms which sink to the bottom of the sea using up its oxygen base. According to Greenpeace marine biologist Stuart Thomson, oxygen depletion at the bottom of the Baltic has already taken a toll on cod reserves because the cold-water fish lays its eggs there. Blue-green algae floats & #8211; which usually peak in late July or early August & #8211; are boosted by warm weather and winds, which help carry the slime up from the sea floor toward the archipelago and coastline. Researcher Lotta Ruokanen at the Finnish Marine Institute said some human causes behind the worsening yearly algae blooms are nutritional overloads from farms and waste water from fisheries and homes located beyond the reach of municipal treatment plants. Although some of the nitrogen and phosphorus this produces is needed to maintain marine life, excess amounts of such nutrients lead to eutrophication & #8211; a process which accelerates algae growth and turns the waters of lakes and seas murky. “Blue-green algae outbreaks are a natural phenomenon, they have been present for centuries, but because of eutrophication they have become more intense and a much bigger problem,” said Ruokanen. Between the 1930s and 1980s the transparency of the Baltic Sea decreased by as much as 3m to 4m, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, an inter-governmental body set up to protect the Baltic Sea. “Some one million Finns live outside the reach of public sewage management. Waste waters flooding from the St Petersburg area are also having an (adverse) impact on the algae situation, but mainly in the open sea area,” Ruokanen said. Some 660,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 28,000 tonnes of phosphorus entered the Baltic in 2000, according to a study by the Commission. Four large rivers & #8211; the Neva, Nemunas, Vistula and Oder & #8211; together accounted for the majority of the inputs, the study added. “The problem of eutrophication is a global one, but what makes it worrying for the Baltic Sea is its particular vulnerability,” said Greenpeace & #8217;s Thomson. The Baltic, which has an average depth of 55m compared with more than 3,600m in the Atlantic Ocean, is more vulnerable to toxic and nutrient inputs, largely because of its waters & #8217; limited exchange with the open seas. It takes 30 to 50 years for the total water supply in the Baltic to change, so even if all nutrient inputs were halted it would take decades for it to fully recover, Thomson said. “1997, 1999, and 2002 have been very tough years in terms of algae, and now it is forecast that 2003 will also be one of the roughest,” researcher Heikki Pitkanen from the Finnish Environment Institute said. “Since the start of the 1990s the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs have declined some 40% but there is still a long way to go.” & #8211; Reuters<p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. 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