Toxic plankton kills fish off Bali
Pastor Dale Morgan
Toxic plankton kills fish off Bali*
JAKARTA, Feb 1 (AFP) Feb 01, 2007
Toxic plankton has killed many thousands of fish in waters off the
Indonesian resort island of Bali, an official said Thursday.
The "red tide," or algal bloom, has contaminated the sea in the Tabanan
district, the head of the Bali Fisheries Office Ida Bagus Putu Wisnawa
Manuaba said.
"The fishes' mass death is a natural phenomenon caused by the El
Nino-induced storm which moved from the Pacific Ocean to the Indonesian
waters.
"The El Nino-induced storm triggered the growth of toxic planktons
called red tide," Manuaba was quoted by the official Antara news agency
as saying.
He said the toxic plankton had turned the sea red and yellow.
People living near the two beaches were warned not to eat the dead fish
or swim in the waters, he said.
The main tourists beaches at Kuta and Legian further south were not
reported to have been affected.
Researchers collected samples of the dead fish, sea water and plankton
to investigate the deaths, Antara said.
It is not clear what causes red tides. Water pollution has been blamed
but the El Nino weather phenomenon, which brings about an increase in
sea water temperatures, has been linked to red tides in the Pacific Ocean.