The algae bloom appears to be affecting everything from tiny yellowfin goby to sharks, experts say.
One of the Bay Area’s largest algae blooms in recent memory could intensify with the arrival later this week of the longest, most intense heat wave of the year — creating pitch-perfect conditions for the toxic algae to potentially kill even more fish across the San Francisco Bay, experts and water regulators said Monday.
Experts and water quality regulators have little idea about when this so-called red tide event will end. And for the time being, they say, there is no readily available solution to reverse its course and curtail the die-off of Bay Area marine life. Myriad types of fish have been killed, including white sturgeon and striped bass, according to Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist for San Francisco Baykeeper. He claimed at least one green sturgeon — which is considered a threatened species under the Federal Endangered Species Act — also has been found dead. However, a state survey team has yet to find any such green sturgeon carcasses.
Certain types of bacteria like to feed off this type of algae, and in doing so, it can cause oxygen levels in the surrounding water to crater, killing fish. But regional and state water and wildlife officials are still studying fish specimens to determine what exactly caused these fish to die in the Bay, said Eileen White, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.
A sign warning of algae is photographed along the shoreline of Lake Merritt on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Large numbers of fish are dying across the Bay Area as warm temperatures create algal blooms. Not likely. This specific type of red algae affecting the Bay produces toxins that chiefly affect fish gills — meaning that humans appear largely safe from its worst impacts.
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