Algal bloom south coast ?

Anemone

I had to abort a planned swim this morning at Clonea Strand, Dungarvan (ye all know where I live now There was a fairly strong red/brown colour in the water. It was so strong that at a depth of 8 inches, my feet looked orange! The sea was very calm, and I also noticed a very slight slick (not oily, more streaky) on the surface. There was no unusual smell that I could detect. I've been swimming regularly at this fine Blue Flag beach for a few years and this is the first time I've seen this kind of colour in the water.

One of my fellow swimmers rang a guy she knows in the environment section of Waterford Co Co, and he says they are aware of a non-toxic algal bloom on the south coast at the moment. I'm no expert on this stuff, but it looked very concentrated. I think I'll skip swimming and diving for a few days.

jd

There was some kind of bloom off the Wexford coast- it was quite bad a few months ago.
The charter skippers thought it was affecting catches. Certainly when I brought in my line, the business end was quite foamy (this was shore fishing). Wexford harbour was brown and foamy at he same time .

Peace

Originally posted by Anemone
I had to abort a planned swim this morning at Clonea Strand, Dungarvan (ye all know where I live now

My family has a mobile home on casey's caravan park. Where do live.... ofcourse if you don't want to answer a internet weirdo like myself i understand!

Also is there any diving to speak of around clonea or helvic?

Anemone

Originally posted by Peace
My family has a mobile home on casey's caravan park. Where do live.... ofcourse if you don't want to answer a internet weirdo like myself i understand!

Also is there any diving to speak of around clonea or helvic?

I live a couple of miles outside Dungarvan, on the Clonea side. I emigrated here from Dublin a few years ago.

DIVING: In general the coastline here is shallower than 15m. Helvic head is a passable shallow dive (10 - 12 m). There's another reasonable shallow dive in the middle of the bay around The Black Rocks. There's a monster conger there (head as big as a seal's). No real diving around Clonea that I know of. I've never got around to diving up the Bunmahon side, but some day I'll check it out. Looks all shallow on the chart. Interesting dive around Mine Head, and another on the western side of the head at Longship Rock, both need to be done on slack water. Nice rocky diving for a couple of miles west of Ram Head in Ardmore.

On the wreck front, the two most popular wrecks are the Bandon and the Folia, both almost 40m, a few miles offshore (one off Mine Head, the other off Ram Head). Big ships in their day, but well broken up now. Several other wrecks further out in deeper (60m+) water, but not really my cup of tea. There's also a fairly intact small wreck up against the cliff in Ardmore, which is an interesting fallback dive. I can put you in touch with a reliable local dive operator if anybody wants to dive here.

Anemone

Interesting follow-up to this. I heard this morning from someone who lives beside Clonea beach that the breaking waves were glowing last night. I guess there must be some bioluminescent species of algae in the bloom (unless it's a by-product of Sellafield ). I must go down to the beach tonight for a gawk.

NordicDiver

This is how it looked like south of Norway a few weeks ago, problay the same alge.

NordicDiver

Whhops that was a big picture

Anemone

Waterford Co Co just sent me this press release from the Marine Institute, issued today. It suggests that a critter called Noctiluca scintillans might be responsible, and it says that bug is harmless. I did a quick search for recent samples taken in Dungarvan Bay, in the database they mention below, and it's interesting to note that this algae only appears superficially in one sample this month, and not at all in the other two. However, I'm no expert in this stuff, so that mightn't be relevant.


BEGIN PRESS RELEASE

Algal blooms reported along South-West coast.

A red/orange coloured algal bloom has been reported along the South-West Coast. Water samples from the South coast analysed by Marine Institute laboratories last week identified a bloom of Phytoplankton called Noctiluca scintillans, which is non-toxic to shellfish. This species of phytoplankton has no impact on human health and is not uncommon at this time of year when water temperatures increase. The algal bloom is red/orange in colour and can appear quite dense in bays where there is not much movement in the water.

Further reports of similar red/orange algal blooms along the South-West Coast were received this week. The Marine Institute has requested further water samples from affected beaches in order to identify the species of Phytoplankton. Based on eyewitness reports and photographic evidence to date, it appears likely that the Noctiluca scintillans bloom, identified last week on the South coast, has spread to other beaches along the South–West, and therefore poses no threat to human health.

Algal blooms are naturally occurring plankton and are seen almost every year during the summer months. The Marine Institute routinely analyses water samples from around the coast of Ireland to identify harmful or nuisance phytoplankton, and their impact on shellfish & finfish in particular. The results of the Marine Institute’s Phytoplankton Monitoring Programme can be seen on http://www.marine.ie/habsdatabase These results are also circulated to shellfish producers, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
Ends.

For more information please contact:
Lisa Fitzpatrick, Marine Institute, Galway Technology Park, Parkmore, Galway.
Tel: 091 730 428. Mobile: 087 293 7476 Email: lisa.fitzpatrick@marine.ie

END PRESS RELEASE

Anemone

This thread is turning into my own personal crusade, so sorry if I'm boring the pants off yis. Just back from the beach where (after dark) we witnessed an amazing light show courtesy of the algae. The tide was well out and the algae seemed to have impregnated a lot of the patches of weed, rock-pools and soggy sand. Whenever I stamped my foot in one of these areas, the sand / weed instantly lit up in a luminous green flash for up to a square metre around my foot. This was something much stronger than the sparks one sees on a night dive. The flashes were quite solid and could be seen clearly from 50 yards away. Throwing a rock into one of the pools of sea water produced a spectacular flash of green psuedo-fire dancing across the pool. The sea was fairly calm tonight, but on the crests of a few of the breaking waves one could see a slight green outline glowing. The stuff on the beach was much stronger though. It's concentration varied a lot, so there was none in some places, while in others you couldn't take a step without setting off the subterranean fireworks.

I know I'm raving here, and a little off-board, but this was really amazing to look at. I suppose we could call it the South-Eastern lights

NordicDiver

Sounds like something that are radioactive to me :cool:
Would be fun to take a night swim and walk out from the water glowing

Hope the weater stays cold so it does not spread to Cork for the weekend....

Mick L

Any pics of those sparks Anemone? They'd make a good contribution to the gallery.

Anemone

Afraid I have no pics. Didn't have the camera with me, but given that we could only notice the effect after dark, I suspect it might have been difficult to get the camera to pick it up.