Peconic Baykeeper Kevin McAllister
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For the sixth summer in a row, a species of red algae known to be toxic to fish and shellfish has bloomed in the waters off eastern Shinnecock Bay and more widely throughout the Peconic Estuary.
This year, the algae, which stains surface waters a deep brown or crimson in the afternoons, has appeared more than a month earlier than in prior years, possibly posing an even greater danger to shellfish stocks that are helpless to avoid it.
“It’s been appearing since 2004, and it’s been like clockwork, the last week of August, so this year it started about 40 days earlier,” said Dr. Christopher Gobler, a marine science professor at Stony Brook University, and an expert on water quality and algae blooms. “The blooms seem to always fade away when the... more
This year, the algae, which stains surface waters a deep brown or crimson in the afternoons, has appeared more than a month earlier than in prior years, possibly posing an even greater danger to shellfish stocks that are helpless to avoid it.
“It’s been appearing since 2004, and it’s been like clockwork, the last week of August, so this year it started about 40 days earlier,” said Dr. Christopher Gobler, a marine science professor at Stony Brook University, and an expert on water quality and algae blooms. “The blooms seem to always fade away when the... more
That's not accurate in any way shape or form.... Red Tide in our bays shows up often times in Shinnecock first and later in Peconic Bay. Sometimes it's near the canal in Peconic Bay, sometimes it's in Flanders Bay. Sometimes it's near Southold. Samples have been taken from Tiana and from Moniebogue long before it appears in the Peconic Bay and it has yet to be documented in the Peconic River (west of the traffic circle).
I'd love to know the source of your information...
I'll tell you what though, we can be sure it has never gone from Shinnecock to Peconic, because the water only flows one way.... into Shinnecock.
Do you dispute that the Riverhead STP releases raw sewage into the Peconic River when it receives ...more more wastewater than it can treat?
And I didn't claim it goes FROM Shinnecock TO Peconic Bay, I said it shows up first in Shinnecock and later it will be seen in Peconic Bay. There is something causing it and it's not "raw sewage" coming from the Riverhead STP. I guarentee you that.
As for water temperature being a factor, this year ...more has been considerably warmer and the bay has warmed up much earlier. This could explain why the Red Tide is hear earlier than expected.
You have to be joking that the researches are avoiding solving the problem because they want grant money. As someone who has a degree in marine biology I can tell you that it is not the case with the red tide blooms ...more on Long Island.
Do you know how much research $$$ went into the ear and how many people were working on that? A lot more than what is allocated to one professor and a handful of grad students. There is a major incentive for them to solve this problem (praise in the scientific community, notoriety that they can parlay into more grant $$ for other projects, fullfilling their work goals etc.). If you "know" the reason behind THIS algal bloom give the Baykeeper and Chris Gobler a call - I'm sure they'd love to know.
Why don't you put that degree to some good use and save the bay? My dad happens to have a degree in Marine Bio too.
Looks ...more like I was right about the water temperature. High nutrient content can be a byproduct of "raw sewage". I would count the STP out so fast it could be contributing.
Mr. Penny said that he had some concerns that the municipal sewage treatment plant in Sag Harbor be putting nitrates in Sag Harbor Cove that could feed a bloom in some East Hampton waters. Algae thrive in areas with high nitrate concentrations, which can come from septic system, lawn fertilizers or road runoff.
I guess the Riverhead STP couldn't possibly have an effect on the bloom. You ...more may have a degree in Marine Bio, but that doesn't mean you know what you are writing about. If you even hold the degree you say.
'The municipal sewage treatment plant in Sag Harbor "be" putting nitrates in Sag Harbor Cove,' said Captain Kid.
Also nitrates are fed into the bays from cess pools and boats not using pump out stations, and road runoff. Sewage treatment plants are direct sources, the others are indirect and more difficult to regulate unless you have government officials who care for more than their next election/appointment.
If the Town addressed the lack of storm water infrastructure, that would help cut the nitrates substantially. We are well behind the EPA laws on storm water mitigation.
In essence, you need nitrogen and warm temperatures to create Red Tide. The warm temperatures are going to happen regardless of us - it gets warm in the summer and lately, the summers have been extra warm. Algal blooms are normal and are crucial for life in our northern waters but red tide and brown tide are problematic. There are lots of different types of algae, Red, Blue, Green, Brown and each type has various strains, some of which are harmful, some of which are not. ...more
The one factor we have some control over is the input of nitrogen into our bays, but as Split Rock points out, there is no one single point source. Yes, there is an STP outfall pipe from Riverhead which could be a contributing factor but it doesn't explain the presence of Red Tide in Shinnecock and Moniebogue bays. The bulk of nitrogen comes from obvious sources such as leaching septic systems, road runoff and fertilizer runoff but there are unknown sources (non-point pollution) of nitrogen that we currently have no control over.
Studies have been done (by Dr. Gobler and his students) on nitrogen levels in Flanders Bay in the saltmarshes. One would expect that if the bulk of nitrogen was in the bay was coming from the STP as ICE is so confident it is, then you would see very low levels of nitrogen at low tide coming from the freshwater seeps in the marsh (which are surrounded by vast areas of park lands so they are not being influenced by homes and roads). However, researches found that the levels of nitrogen at low tide were higher than at high tide (when the bay water moved into the marshes) indicating that there is a significant amount of non-point source nitrogen seeping into Flanders Bay.
There is no single point source for all the nutrients that are pouring into the Peconic Estuary. It's coming from everywhere mentioned above including the thousands upon thousands of septic systems sited in the Peconic watershed. you'd ...more have to either roll back the local population to levels of many decades ago or bite the bullet and spend the billions necessary to significantly reduce the nitrogen loading.
For the sake of accuracy the outfall for the Sag Harbor waste treatment plant is not in the cove. It's outside the breakwater in Shelter Island Sound.