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Namibia: Another Red Tide Threat for Seafood Industry
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
1 April 2008
Posted to the web 1 April 2008
Adam Hartman
DEAD fish, shellfish and other marine animals are washing out again along the central coast, indicating the possibility of another major algae bloom that threatens to cause havoc in the seafood industry.
The industry has already lost millions of dollars in oyster production over the past six weeks.
Rock lobster stocks also took a hard knock as tonnes of beached lobsters were carried away by the public before and during the Easter weekend.
The Ministry of Fisheries rescued juvenile crayfish and released them later when the water conditions stabilised.
If the current algae bloom develops into another red tide, though, this act of preservation may have been futile.
Oyster farmers were worried yesterday as news of the latest fish mortalities spread.
The current algae bloom could set off another episode of low oxygen levels in the sea, suffocating everything living in the affected areas.
"There's definitely another algae bloom.
We're keeping a close eye on it though," one oyster farmer said.
"We hope that this does not turn into the same thing that hit us recently."
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No one at the Ministry of Fisheries in Swakopmund was able to comment, although it was mentioned that marine biologists had gone out to sea to monitor the situation and take water samples.
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