Algae Bloom In Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Waters

NORFOLK (AP) -- Huge ribbons of algae blooms have appeared in lower Chesapeake Bay, the result of a scorching summer and recent rains.

The dark veins of algae have been reported from Mathews County south to Norfolk, as well as other areas of the bay. The cranberry-colored algae have lined the beaches of Newport News and seeped into deeper waters, where crabbers work.

Environmentalists view algae blooms as a sign of a Chesapeake Bay in peril.

Christy Everett of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said last week the blooms are yet another sign that the bay's water quality is "out of balance."

The foundation provided to The Associated Press aerial photographs of the blooms taken July 31.

An excessive amount of nutrients washed into the bay by heavy rains help create dense patches of the cranberry-colored algae. Heat hastens the process. As the water cools, the algae decomposes and consumes oxygen while sinking to the sea floor.

If sufficiently dense, algae will remove all the oxygen and leave the water a dead zone.

While not harmful to people, dead zones can kill baby oysters, crabs, underwater grasses and schools of fish.

Margaret Mulholland, an oceanography professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, studies how algae blooms are formed and their environmental effects. She said it is not known if algae blooms have grown more common in the bay.

Species that can avoid the oxygen-depleting algae do, she said.

www.wvec.com