Red Tide

What is Red Tide? Red Tide is caused by a "population explosion" of the dinoflagellate protist; often referred to as red algae. Conditions that favor a “bloom” include: - high nutrient content, - warm surface temperatures, - low salinity, - calm seas.

During red tide blooms, toxins are stored in the digestive tract (stomach and intestines) of soft-shell clams, hard-shell clams, oysters, mussels, scallops From water affected by the red tide.

Clam

Oyster

Mussel

Moon Snail

What happens if toxic shellfish are consumed? Eating toxic shellfish can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Dinoflaggelates make one of the most dangerous poisons known to scientists. The poison immediately affects the nervous system, tingling of the lips and tongue, spreads to the face, neck, fingertips and toes. Headache, dizziness and nausea follow. In severe cases, muscular paralysis and difficulty breathing may occur within 5 to 12 hours. Fatalities from respiratory paralysis have been reported.

What is a Dead Zone?

This map compares the location of 400 dead zones (black dots) with humanity's footprint — ranging from low population density in green to high density in darker colors.

Dead Zones in the United States

538 million chickens raised on the Delmarva peninsula - many of them owned by Perdue - generate 1.1 billion pounds of chicken litter every year. When chicken manure runs off into nearby waters, it contributes to the staggering dead zone plaguing the Bay.

Chicken houses along the Pocomoke River, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay

The Delmarva Peninsula in VA. Once a very productive ecosystem and a jewel of U.S. food production, the Chesapeake is now a wasteland. Decades of pollution, mainly from agriculture, has destroyed the waterway. An invaluable wild source of sustainable food has been sacrificed at the alter of cheap meat, chicken

“If you want to grow a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, you first need to plant a seed in the rich farmland of the upper Mississippi River basin.”

The Mississippi River basin covers 40 percent of the continental United States and is the largest producer of corn and soybeans in the world. That’s a lot of fertilizer!

Algal blooms include all photosynthetic life, bacterial, protists, and plants.

This dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi River empties, grows larger each year!

Formation of a Dead Zone G7ao G7ao

Do you fertilize your lawn? Poorly applied fertilizers run off lawns into local springs, streams, lakes, rivers and, ultimately, into the ocean. Because fertilizer is often highly toxic, the results harm waterways and the plants and animals that depend on our water for survival.water