BROWARD COUNTY, Florida (17 Aug 2003) -- Ken Banks is alerting South Florida recreational scuba divers to be on the lookout for a wispy, dark red algae covering coral reefs. The manager of marine-resources programs for Broward County's Department of Planning and Environmental Protection suspects the algae is a type of lyngbya (pronounced ling-bee-ah) that smothers soft corals and poses a potential hazard to humans. ''It looks like if someone had really long hair, and it's a darkish red,'' Banks said. ''I've seen it as far north as Hillboro Inlet and as far south as Hollywood, but I don't know if it's continuous. The stuff is growing all over sea fans, sea plumes and sea rods. It doesn't seem to be growing on live coral tissues but on the margin of the colony.'' Banks has been talking to local dive clubs and dive operators, passing out questionnaires asking whether they have seen the algae, and if so, where and when. He plans to draw a map based on divers' responses to try to determine the source and the extent of the algae bloom. It hasn't been spotted in Palm Beach County, according to county official Carmen Vare. But in Miami-Dade County, H20 Scuba's Henry Del Campo said he has seen it on several 20-to-40-foot-deep reefs off Sunny Isles Beach. Tim McIntosh of Miami-Dade County's Department of Environmental Resources Management said he hasn't heard anything about the algae bloom from county biologists in the field. | | Algae blooms are nothing unusual in South Florida's warm ocean waters in the summer. But Banks is worried about this one because he has been observing it spreading in Broward County waters since winter. He hopes the tropical weather system that blew through the region Thursday will get rid of some of it. The presence of lyngbya usually indicates a build-up of nutrients in the water from sources such as sewer outfalls, groundwater run-off from lawns and golf courses, and upwellings of deep ocean currents. It's not usually a problem when it occurs in small, scattered patches. But when it blankets corals, it kills them by preventing them from using photosynthesis to grow, according to coral reef expert Vladimir Kosmynin of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. John Burns, an aquatic ecologist in Jacksonville with the environmental consulting firm PBS&J, is anxiously awaiting a sample of the algae from Banks. ''You get a storm event and you'll get it washed up on the beach, and we've had skin irritation and respiratory problems,'' he said. ''The first step is trying to understand it and if it's a toxic species, is it producing toxin? What is behind the production of the blooms?'' Any scuba diver who spots suspected lyngbya in local waters is asked to write down the date and the GPS coordinates where it was seen and e-mail Banks at kbanks@broward.org. |
