Southern Coast Red Tide Leads to Thousands of Losses

Out of 1.2 million fish - comprising rockfish, sea bream and other varieties - raised in a 2-hectare farm in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, over 330,000 have died because of red tide. The incident has drawn concerns over the environment, and provincial officials are looking into ways to solve the problem.

Currently, affected municipalities are spraying the waters with red clay as part of their efforts to stop algal bloom. The clay soaks up planktons and minerals, bringing these down with the clay as it sinks to the sea bottom. Another initiative is reducing the concentration of cochlodinium through boat propellers.

Four days before the report, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRD) have issued a warning around Yeosu, Goheung-gun and Geoje coasts. This is the first warning in South Korea this year.

A farm in Yeosu raises around 5.5 million fish, and the entire 197-hectare property (along with the fish) has a total worth of 170 billion won ($144 million). It has already been affected with red tide in 2014, wherein more than 43,000 fish died and the loss amounted to 70 million won.

There is concern that the same thing could happen. The city's local government says that the severity depends on the weather.

"The level of the red tide is falling thanks to the cloudy weather, but it can go up again once the sun gets stronger".

Concerns over the phenomenon have risen as it has been observed to reach the East Sea. In fact, the NFRD has issued an advisory in Pohang and Gyeongju coastal areas on Saturday.

The institute announces an advisory if the concentration of cochlodinium, a species of harmful planktonic dinoflagellate, goes above 300 cells per ml within a radius of 2-5 km. An advisory is then raised to a warning if the concentration goes beyond 1,000 cells per ml with a radius exceeding 5 km.

The red tide-causing marine dinoflagellate multiplies when the water temperature is beyond 25°C. And the average temperature of the coasts in Korea has increased by 1.29°C since the past 40 years. As a result, the increasing concentration of cochlodinium has threatened many fishermen's livelihood as it rids the fish of dissolved oxygen and poisons them with natural toxins.