Stinky Red Tide in B'game

The Chronicle is running a second story today as the "algal bloom" spreads throughout the Bay.  In yesterday's print edition there was a photo of a dead sturgeon at Coyote Point.  It was about two feet long.  The Chron notes

While scientists can’t yet pinpoint an exact cause of the bloom, which first began in late July, the fish kills are a sign that it has grown in intensity. It’s also become very noticeable, with the bay’s maroon-brown tint visible to motorists from the Bayshore Freeway or Bay Bridge and an estimated thousands of dead fish piling up near shore.

An intrepid Voice reader sent along a much better photo of the bloom on our bayfront and reiterated how much the whole thing stinks.  Check it out.

Comments

[Peter Garrison]

Sometimes with the red tide you can go to the water at night and toss rocks into the water to see it glow electric blue.

Oceans waves can light up the shoreline like lightening.

Dates with my future wife included such night time shenanigans in Long Beach…

[Joe]

Here we go again this summer:

A toxic red tide has returned to San Francisco Bay, raising fears of a reprise of last summer’s unusually large fish die-off.

Experts report that harmful blooming algae was detected last weekend in rust-colored water samples from Emeryville, the Berkeley Marina, Albany and Marin County’s Richardson Bay and Muir Beach.

While no fish deaths have yet been reported, authorities are advising that people and pets not enter the water and are closely monitoring the algae bloom. Last summer’s incident was alarmingly deadly, killing thousands of fish and other marine creatures, from tiny yellowfin goby to sharks and bat rays, according to reports submitted to San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group focused on water conditions in the bay. Foul-smelling corpses littered Bay Area beaches from San Pablo Bay to the South Bay.