Red Tide back already

Sad to say that the Red Tide already appears to be affecting Ballasadare / Sligo Bay . Yesterday there were dozens of live razors laying on the sand with loads more squirting and still more rising out of the ground as I watched . Even a large white rag worm came to the surface .
A local boatman said the authorities were taking samples over by Strandhill . I don't know what the official result was but what I saw certainly didn't look good for fishing in the near future .
This was on a bed which was badly affected last year . There was very little sign of lug having recovered since then and nearly all of the dying razors were about 3" long so I guess they hadn't had a chance to reproduce . Many would not have got that chance anyway because someone had dug a large hole in the middle of the bed and left dozens of shells exposed . That is the first time I have seen evidence of such negligent digging in that area .
Sorry for such a negative post . Here's hoping for some decent fishing if it ever stops raining !!

Not good,,,too much run off from farmland that has had slurry applied and phosphate/nitrate rich feed used on salmon farms is creating nutrient rich waters for the plankton.

seems to be in the same place again! would like to see evidence of whats causing it.....
must be local influences. defo the time of year for the application of slurry in the fields

I find this is very interesting how by 'sheer coincidence' the worst of the 2012 bloom was detected in areas riddled with so called 'organic' fish farms.

Anyone who still denies the impacts of aquaculture on the state of our seas and blames cattle farmers and wash offs from slurry can only be advised to WAKE UP and REALISE THE FACTS!

There are obviously vested interests out there, clashing with profit expectations and promises of wealth and riches from, ahem 'well minded' individuals, but the sorry truth cant be denied!

http://www.marine.ie/home/aboutus/newsr ... thWest.htm
Padraic Fogarty, Chairman of the Irish Wildlife Trust stated that "it would kill anything that could not swim away from it by sucking the oxygen out of the water."

Damian Reid of Donegal Oysters Ltd said:
In 2005 up to 40 per cent of the oysters died but now (2012) we have a 60 per cent mortality rate on our stocks and this is probably going to rise. There are always deaths in oyster farming, but i’ve never seen anything on this scale.
http://www.thejournal.ie/massive-cloud- ... 4-Jul2012/

This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, just do a search yourself online. But please, do not hold me responsible if you are sick to your teeth from you findings! You have been warned

The truth is out there, it's up TO YOU to find it and make up YOUR OWN MIND!

And please, don't be sheep! There are no wolves anymore!

Thanks for that the Austrian,I understand it a bit better .Does this mean that all of this lovely bass on east and west coast will be coming to the south coast ????????:)

Thanks for that the Austrian,I understand it a bit better .Does this mean that all of this lovely Bass on east and west coast will be coming to the south coast ????????:)

I like your optimism bassboy, but who knows if there many left strong enough to escape?

Fish die a very silent death unfortunately, covered by the waters of the oceans. Most fish die unseen from us in cold waters, sink to the seafloor and are recycled by other life forms and organisms present there, which are designed by billions of years of evolution to do their jobs efficiently.
Only certain factors like raised water temperatures or prolonged periods of onshore winds and currents may provide evidence of fishkills, normally too late to give clear indications of toxicity levels present at the time of the event. There are different strains of the red tide causing Karenia known, the most dangerous is K.brevis which luckily is not all too common here. Still, better err of the side of caution.

The most harmful effects of a red tide are caused by various toxins released when the organism dies.
It is widely believed to be safe to eat local finfish as long as the fish are filleted before eaten. Although toxins may accumulate in the guts of fish, these areas are disposed of when the fish are filleted.

However, it is never a good idea to eat dead or distressed animals, especially in a red tide area, because the reason for the animal's strange behavior or death cannot be absolutely known.
Red tides produce toxic chemicals that can affect both marine organisms and humans. A certain strain, Karenia brevis, produces brevetoxins that can affect the central nervous system of fish and other vertebrates, causing these animals to die.
Wave action can break open K.brevis cells and release these toxins into the air, leading to respiratory irritation. For people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions, such as emphysema or asthma, red tide can cause serious illness.
http://rense.com/general63/redtide.htm

The red tide toxins can also accumulate in molluscan filter-feeders such as oysters and clams, which can lead to Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning in people who consume contaminated shellfish. Depending upon the toxin, it is also known as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), because it causes shellfish to be toxic for consumption.
Cooking or freezing does not destroy the red tide toxin. Furthermore, the toxin cannot be seen or tasted.

If you live close to the beach, consider bringing outdoor pets inside during a bloom to prevent respiratory irritation. If you are at the beach with your pets, do not allow them to play with dead fish or foam that may accumulate on the beach during or after a red tide. If your pet eats dead fish, it may get sick. If your pet swims in the red tide, wash it as soon as possible. Most dogs lick themselves after swimming and will consume any toxins on their fur.

Red tides vary greatly in size – expanding as far as 10,000 square miles – and can be present from the surface of the water to the seafloor. Presently, there is no practical and acceptable way to control or kill red tide blooms other than precaution.

The red tide organism, is a part of the ecosystem and can be found in low concentrations at any time. Blooms or red tides occur when very high concentrations of red tide cells occur. Blooms are most likely to occur from August through November although there have been red tides in every month of the year. Scientists are working to develop a complete understanding of the physical, chemical and biological parameters that lead to red tide's formation and persistence. Parameters such as temperature, salinity, currents, nutrients and competing species all may contribute to bloom conditions. One recently published theory regarding bloom initiation involves the transport of iron on dust particles from the Sahara desert (Walsh and Steidinger, 2001). The iron is essential to growth of the blue-green alga, trichodesmium. It is thought that trichodesmium, through its cellular activity, provides nutrients needed for the red tide organism to grow. Scientists continue to collect data to in an attempt to validate this theory.

excerpt from: Walsh, J. J. and K.A. Steidinger, 2001. Saharan Dust and red tides: The cyanophyte connection. Journal of Geophysical Research 106:11597-11612.

So is this defo a bloom starting? I seriously hope not

Really hope this isn't a repeat of last year. As I understood it, these blooms were a natural phenomena, but 2 years running and in the same areas would suggest something more sinister alright.

It'd be a disaster if it was anywhere near as bad as last year. Could it be possible that said area just hasn't recovered fully and it's an isolated occurrence?..

the farmers got a dispensation to spread slurry late this year - think up to 2/3 weeks ago - if it wasnt all uptaken by the land during the "dry spell" - (does this ever really happen - on both counts!!!) then where do you think it goes...into the catchment and out to sea

would not rule it out - i have been working in the NW the last 2 weeks and there is still plenty of evidence of it about...

the farmers got a dispensation to spread slurry late this year - think up to 2/3 weeks ago - if it wasnt all uptaken by the land during the "dry spell" - (does this ever really happen - on both counts!!!) then where do you think it goes...into the catchment and out to sea

would not rule it out - i have been working in the NW the last 2 weeks and there is still plenty of evidence of it about...

If that is the case then this is a really serious failure of communication within these designated bodies and another piece of evidence that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
I left the brain issue out of the equation, on purpose...

they did tests for the red tide in January and about 3 weeks ago in north Connemara but i did not hear the results
i went to a mark on Saturday around low tide and the water looked very milky looking like it was last year during the red tide,i saw sandeel and mullet around
myself and another lad went to have a look at the mark last night and the water looked bad but we decided to give it a try and between us had 10 dogfish,4 mackerel and 40+ pollack,the water quality did not seem to put the fish off
spreading slurry is not the problem at this mark as no slurry is spread

with the recent rain after the dry spell and all the gorse fires i wonder is the color in the water ash washed down from the mountains?

[CiaranMcFish]

The Marine Institute should have up to date results from shellfish producing areas and a quick search on the HAB's database should help determine if Karenia mikimotoi, which caused last years red tide event, is present in your area. Probably a bit early in year for it to be inshore in big biomass but could be another toxic species.

http://www.marine.ie/home/publicationsd ... +Database/

Last edited by CiaranMcFish on Wed May 01, 2013 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I find this is very interesting how by 'sheer coincidence' the worst of the 2012 bloom was detected in areas riddled with so called 'organic' fish farms.

Anyone who still denies the impacts of aquaculture on the state of our seas and blames cattle farmers and wash offs from slurry can only be advised to WAKE UP and REALISE THE FACTS!

There are obviously vested interests out there, clashing with profit expectations and promises of wealth and riches from, ahem 'well minded' individuals, but the sorry truth cant be denied!

http://www.marine.ie/home/aboutus/newsr ... thWest.htm
Padraic Fogarty, Chairman of the Irish Wildlife Trust stated that "it would kill anything that could not swim away from it by sucking the oxygen out of the water."

Damian Reid of Donegal Oysters Ltd said:
In 2005 up to 40 per cent of the oysters died but now (2012) we have a 60 per cent mortality rate on our stocks and this is probably going to rise. There are always deaths in oyster farming, but i’ve never seen anything on this scale.
http://www.thejournal.ie/massive-cloud- ... 4-Jul2012/

This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, just do a search yourself online. But please, do not hold me responsible if you are sick to your teeth from you findings! You have been warned

The truth is out there, it's up TO YOU to find it and make up YOUR OWN MIND!

And please, don't be sheep! There are no wolves anymore!

The Austrian, yes I believe it IS sheer coincidence that those areas happen to be aquaculture areas. Have you not considered that it may be due to the effects of the increasingly warm and polluted Gulf Stream, which affects the areas shown more than others, combined with rising sea temperatures around Irish coasts again this year which I pointed out on 2nd April ("sea temperatures this year") which you chose to dismiss at the time.

The areas shown on that map and the information on Karenia blloms come from a combination of fish farmers (both shellfish and finfish) and Marine institute staff taking water samples as part of their licence conditions and to monitor water for harmful blooms in protection of their stock and protection for humans in the consumption of shellfish. These water samples are analysed by the Marine Institute who have an internationally 'accredited lab'.

If you dont believe me then look at the Marine Institute website and look up 'Harmful algae monitoring'. From thsi you can find all the sampling points as well. Its totally misleading to imply that these blooms only occour where there are farms. The fact is that these are the only areas where regular monitoring takes place.

Caz

Something looking like pea soup in the surf but very little foam . An unusual colour . Could that be dead red tide or is it more likely to be finely pulverised weed ? There were no obvious chunks of weed in this particular bay ( Trawee , Co Sligo ) but there was a big surf and a lot had been washed up in the next bay along .
Birds were diving into the swell a couple of hundred yards off shore . Presumably that indicates the presence of fish and hopefully not dead ones .
If it is dead plankton might that mean that the whole bloom is dying after taking up most of the run-off nutrient , if that was what caused it in the first place ?
ATB

any more updates on this situation? 5 blank sessions in a row is a worrying trend for west Donegal

any more updates on this situation? 5 blank sessions in a row is a worrying trend for west Donegal

Things are just slow to get going. Everything is a bit behind where it should be!..

any more updates on this situation? 5 blank sessions in a row is a worrying trend for west Donegal

Things are just slow to get going. Everything is a bit behind where it should be!..

Fishing seems is only start to back to what it should be. It was tough time for a last few weeks alright.
Considering about red tide up in Donegal, well I think that is no sign of it, water are pretty clear and another thing is that water temperature has not rised so quick that happened last year as it considerd was the reason for algea bloom to appear.

copied from
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Wh ... ion=stream

Hey Folks, we have a request for anyone that might be out sailing round the northwest for some water samples if you can manage it, apparently there is a huge bloom that may attracting the basking sharks in. The Marine Insititute's Phytoplankton Lab would greatly appreciate any samples taken if you see anything unusual like discoloured water. Thanks!