Eutrophication is occurring in waters around the world and can have serious effects on marine life and humans. Excess nutrients cause the algae to "bloom," which affects aquatic life by depleting oxygen; some algae species also emit neurotoxins that impact marine species directly. The first is an article from New Scientist about the recent occurrence of thousands of dead fish on Kenyan shores. Oxygen deprivation due to algal blooms has become quite serious in the Gulf of Mexico, as described in the second article from Scientific American. An article from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency discusses how places even as far inland as Minnesota can contribute to the problem in the Gulf of Mexico. The next site from the US Environmental Protection Agency includes information about eutrophication, what causes it, why we should be concerned, and various links. The National Office for Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algal Blooms at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has created the this Web site (last mentioned in the October 29, 1997 Scout Report for Science & Engineering) that gives the basics on harmful algal blooms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center also has a page that includes photos and information about marine algae. NOAA also has harmful algal bloom forecasting project which uses remote sensing to help predict algal blooms. The last site is a modeling project used to predict water quality and nutrient loading in the Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina.
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