AFP News – Kam, 4 Jul 2013
China hit by largest-ever algae bloom
The seas off China have been hit by their largest ever growth of algae, ocean officials said, with vast waves of green growth washing onto the shores of the Yellow Sea.
Pictures showed beachgoers swimming and playing in the green tide in
the eastern city of Qingdao, while bulldozers shovelled up tonnes of
algae from the sand.The seas off China have been hit by their largest ever growth of algae, ocean officials said, with vast waves of green growth washing onto the shores of the Yellow Sea.
The State Oceanic Administration said on its website that the algae, enteromorpha prolifera, started to appear a week ago and had spread across an area of 28,900 square kilometres (7,500 square miles).
The previous largest bloom was in 2008 when it affected around 13,000 square kilometres, it said.
Qingdao officials said they had removed around 7,335 tonnes of algae, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The algal phenomenon is usually caused by an abundance of nutrients in the water, especially phosphorus, although the triggers for the enormous blooms which began to appear in the Yellow Sea in 2007 remain uncertain.
The 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."
The algae are not toxic nor detrimental to water quality, but lead to extreme imbalances in marine ecosystems by consuming large quantities of oxygen and creating hydrogen sulphide.
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A
fisherman rows a boat in Chaohu Lake, filled with blue-green algae, in
Hefei, Anhui province, June 3, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags:
ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)
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Fishermen row a boat in Chaohu
Lake, filled with blue-green algae, in Hefei, Anhui province, June 3,
2013. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)
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A fisherman pulls his boat
across an algae-filled coastline in Qingdao, Shandong province June 9,
2013. Picture taken June 9, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags:
ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL
SALES IN CHINA
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A pair of slippers is seen at an
algae-filled coastline in Qingdao, Shandong province June 9, 2013.
Picture taken June 9, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags:
ENVIRONMENT) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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A boy plays on an algae-covered
seaside in Qingdao, Shandong province, June 22, 2013. Picture taken June
22, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) CHINA
OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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People swim in the sea as dried
algae is pictured along the coastline in Qingdao, Shandong province,
June 22, 2013. Picture taken June 22, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA -
Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO
COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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Algae is pictured on the
shoulders of a swimmer along the seaside in Qingdao, Shandong province,
June 22, 2013. Picture taken June 22, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA -
Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO
COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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A worker cleans algae off a
fence near the coastline in Qingdao, Shandong province, June 28, 2013.
REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) CHINA OUT. NO
COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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People walk through
algae-covered seaside in Qingdao, Shandong province, July 1, 2013.
Picture taken July 1, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags:
ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR
EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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A woman looks at algae pumped
into a treatment reservoir at Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, July
2, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT)
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A man covers himself in algae as
he plays with his friends at a seaside in Qingdao, Shandong province,
July 3, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT) CHINA
OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA
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View of an algae covered public
beach in Qingdao, northeast Shandong province, on July 4, 2013. The seas
off China have been hit by their largest ever growth of algae, ocean
officials said, with vast waves of green growth washing onto the shores
of the Yellow Sea
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Chinese beachgoers walk by an
algae covered public beach in Qingdao, northeast Shandong province, on
July 4, 2013. The seas off China have been hit by their largest ever
growth of algae, ocean officials said, with vast waves of green growth
washing onto the shores of the Yellow Sea
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A woman walks past sacks of
algae collected from the algae-covered coastline of Qingdao, in Shandong
province, July 4, 2013. Picture taken July 4, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily
(CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES
IN CHINA
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A fisherman pushes aside the
algae floating on the surface of a sea cucumber farm to make air, near
the coastline of Qingdao, Shandong province, July 4, 2013. Picture taken
July 4, 2013. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER
AGRICULTURE TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL
SALES IN CHINA
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Kenapa bisa terjadi demikian hebat pertumbuhan algae dan disebabkan oleh apa sebenarnya ... dalam puluhan kilometerpersegi terjadi berapa lama, dan bagaimana negara mengatasi masalah lingkungan tersebut serta apakah bisa dimanfaatkan algae sebanyak itu
BalasHapus