Green tide lands on Phuket beach

[webfact]

Green tide lands on Phuket beach
Alasdair Forbes


The photo of Karon Beach sent in by Robert Morris and his wife Carolyn.

PHUKET: -- Friday was not a good day for swimming at Karon Beach: not only were there large rollers crashing onto the beach, but the waves were also carrying what appeared to be oil onto the sand.

Robert Morris and his wife Carolyn, who spend a month in Thailand every year, submitted the photograph to The Phuket News on Saturday.

Mr Morris wrote, “Yesterday we walked the beach and were horrified to find three very dense oil slicks almost onto the beach. We took some photos and would like to submit them in the hope of shaming whoever did this to a magnificent beach.”

In fact, according to Dr Ponsri Sutthanarak, Director of Regional Environment Office 15 in Phuket, this was not oil, but plankton bloom.

Sudden increases in the population of plankton – microscopically small organisms that are the basis of the ocean food chain – are quite common at this time of the year, she said, as heavy rain washes nutrients from the land into the sea, resulting in a sudden, very rapid increase in plankton numbers.

The plankton is not dangerous to people, though if the bloom is large enough, it can suck so much oxygen out of the water that fish and other sea animals suffocate.

After examining the Morris’s photo, she said, “Green tides happen when there is heavy rain which flushes organism materials into the ocean.

“This is not a large green tide so it won’t affect other animals or the environment. But a larger occurrence might affect animals [by depleting oxygen in the water], causing them to suffocate.

“It is natural. We had a brown tide last year at Patong beach last year.”

She warned that a green tide is a good reason for swimmers to stay out of the water. “It might cause itchiness. It should take around four or five days to clear.”

Different types of plankton cause blooms of different colours, including green, yellow, brown and red.

Additional reporting by Tanyaluk Sakoot

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/green-tide-lands-on-phuket-beach-47015.php


-- Phuket News 2014-06-23

[wedders]

"Washes nutrients from the land".... well we know what at least some of those nutrients come from

[LivinginKata]

To be honest it looked more like a black tide at Kata Beach.

[luudee]

Typical response ... Mai pen rai, mai me pen ha ....

luudee

[NamKangMan]

The important question is, will Robert and Carolyn Morris be charged with defamation?

I mean, we can't have tourist taking photographs like this and giving them to the media - it tarnishes Phuket's image.

[JetsetBkk]

The important question is, will Robert and Carolyn Morris be charged with defamation?

I mean, we can't have tourist taking photographs like this and giving them to the media - it tarnishes Phuket's image.

Oops, my bad! Not only was I there on Friday, but I also took a video of the brown muck in the sea.

Better come and lock me up.

I thought about getting closer to get a better shot, but decided against wading through the stinky stuff coming out of the black pond just off the beach.

[shirtless]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

[LivinginKata]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

Quite a number of tourists in the brown water at Kata beach this morning. Maybe they could not see the 'bloom' for the white water surf. Amazes me the bad conditions that tourists will risk.

[Guest]

Oops, my bad! Not only was I there on Friday, but I also took a video of the brown muck in the sea.

Better come and lock me up.

I thought about getting closer to get a better shot, but decided against wading through the stinky stuff coming out of the black pond just off the beach.

I enjoy to see your videos. Thanks. However you need some sort of filter to really show the darker color of the water. Photo Tools & equipment forum could be a good place to query which one would be good for this kind of situation. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/179-photography-equipment-tools/

[stevenl]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

Not an issue at all, you can't shield from nature.

When I was working in the Red Sea we had the same, and you could even more or less predict the time of year this would happen. Also here at this time of year this is quite common.

Edited June 24, 2014 by stevenl

[NamKangMan]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

Not an issue at all, you can't shield from nature.

When I was working in the Red Sea we had the same, and you could even more or less predict the time of year this would happen. Also here at this time of year this is quite common.

So, this time of the year would be a great time to dump your waste water in the sea and have it declared just an algae bloom.

[stevenl]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

Not an issue at all, you can't shield from nature.

When I was working in the Red Sea we had the same, and you could even more or less predict the time of year this would happen. Also here at this time of year this is quite common.

So, this time of the year would be a great time to dump your waste water in the sea and have it declared just an algae bloom.

Again a very strange conclusion, but hey, what's new.

[NamKangMan]

These issues need to be addressed, as they do effect Tourism, who wants to swim in a polluted ocean.

Not an issue at all, you can't shield from nature.

When I was working in the Red Sea we had the same, and you could even more or less predict the time of year this would happen. Also here at this time of year this is quite common.

So, this time of the year would be a great time to dump your waste water in the sea and have it declared just an algae bloom.

Again a very strange conclusion, but hey, what's new.

Not a strange conclusion at all.

If this time of the year is common for algae blooms, what a perfect "cover" to illegally pump your waste into the sea and have it considered only an algae bloom.

[stevenl]

Not an issue at all, you can't shield from nature.

When I was working in the Red Sea we had the same, and you could even more or less predict the time of year this would happen. Also here at this time of year this is quite common.

So, this time of the year would be a great time to dump your waste water in the sea and have it declared just an algae bloom.

Again a very strange conclusion, but hey, what's new.

Not a strange conclusion at all.

If this time of the year is common for algae blooms, what a perfect "cover" to illegally pump your waste into the sea and have it considered only an algae bloom.

Yes, so to you and your way of thinking that would be a logical action. To me it would not. And that's all I'm going to say about this to you.

[NamKangMan]

@ stevenl

You need to think like a Thai, who is trying to save a baht, to truly understand.

[Strangebrew]

Almost like the Philippines was going to go for swim say a turd floating changed my mind.

[Strangebrew]

Also Beach was terrible in Subic Bay ended hiring several locals to clean beach in front of my place out into the water too, put several garbage cans for the idiots to throw there trash in.