Algae Tastes Great! Less Filling!

Mmm. Looks good doesn't it? You might want to get used to the idea that we are going to be moving our diet down the foodchain as it appears we're killing everything at the top. The LA Times has a brilliant, if horrifying article, on the subject titled 'The Primeval Tide of Toxins' or as a scientist in the article says, 'The rise of slime'.
What are they talking about? It's pretty simple. We're dumping so many toxins into the ocean via run-off, direct dumping (pipes etc.) and the burning of fossil fuels that we are reversing evolution. The most basic organisms...algae, bacteria and other primitive organisms are loving life and exploding in number all over the planet. The reulst is they are literally choking the life out of 'higher organisms' by clouding the water and cutting off light and using up the oxygen creating 'dead zones'.
The article starts with some anecdotes about 'fireweed' ,a type of cyanobacteria found in Moreton Bay, Australia. If you think all algae is mushy and harmless think again

The fireweed began each spring as tufts of hairy growth and spreads across the seafloor fast enough to cover a football field in an hour.
When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos.

Grows fast enough to cover a football field in an hour? Searing welts? According to the article a few guys went to the bathroom without properly cleaning the bacteria off with predictably painful results. At first they didn't know what it was but...

Scientist Judith O'Neil put a tiny sample under a microscope and peered at the long black filaments. Consulting a botanical reference, she identified the weed as a strain of cyanobacteria, an ancestor of modern-day bacteria and algae that flourished 2.7 billion years ago.

and is now flourishing in Australia. I warn you, this is a straighforward article but reading it is like a kick in the stomach. This is not something that may happen if we continue our current trends. It is happening. Now. Everywhere. My favorite quote in the article:

"My kids will tell their children: Eat your jellyfish."

In a related story, Oregon is experiencing the worst 'dead zone' off the coast of Oregan ever recorded as reported HERE by Oregon Public Broadcasting. They've had this phenomenon for the last five years but this year was extra bad.

Oregon State University scientists just back from a research cruise are reporting "a wave of death" off the Oregon Coast.

Underwater sea life is literally suffocating from lack of dissolved oxygen. Beachcombers also reported several unusual fish deaths on the Washington coast this past month. But the latest spot checks of Washington waters have conditions back to normal.

The mystery deepens

Here's local Fawn Sharp:

"We were hoping that is was just a short-term, not a long-term problem or phenomenon that's killing our seafood. But now it's gone. So hopefully, the good Lord willing, it's run its course."

Now it's time for a little game we call cross-quotes.

Oregan Article: ""Shapes started coming into focus and we were seeing what looked to be dead worms -- fairly good sized worms. Then we started coming upon piles and piles of dead Dungeness crabs. We didn't see one living fish all day long."

LA Times Article: "The bottom is littered with the ghostly silhouettes of dead crabs, sea stars and other animals."

The LA Times quote comes from a study of a 'dead zone' off the coast of Louisiana. Remember the Oregan 'dead zone' is a mystery. Here's what the Times had to say about the Louisiana situation

The cause of death is decaying algae. Fed by millions of tons of fertilizer, human and animal waste, and other farm runoff racing down the Mississippi River, tiny marine plants run riot, die and drift to the bottom. Bacteria then take over. In the process of breaking down the plant matter, they suck the oxygen out of seawater, leaving little or none for fish or other marine life.

I have notified the proper authorities in Oregon:)

Stay wet and and as always...

Stay Naked.

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