Fears of algal bloom, or red tide, are at the forefront of the salmon industry’s collective mind, thanks to a massive crisis in Chile — and even in general, losses due to toxic algal blooms are reported to be in excess of $82 million (€73.5 million) to all associated marine industries, according to Bill McGraw, an aquaculture and environmental scientist and founder of New Aqua Tech Panama.
Algal blooms can skyrocket fish mortalities, McGraw said in a letter to IntraFish sister publication Fish Farming International, and “the exact mechanism of mortality may be a combination of oxygen depletion in water, production of deadly toxins and in some cases irritation to skin and gills, which produce excess mucus and interferes with normal respiration.”
While
