Drought Fueling Biggest TX Gulf Coast Red Tide Bloom In 10+ Years - Galveston To S. Padre

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — Historic drought conditions are fueling the largest algae bloom in more than a decade along the Texas Gulf Coast, killing fish, sparking warnings about beach conditions and making throats scratchy, researchers said Monday. The extent of the so-called red tide bloom came as no surprise to biologists because the microscopic algae love warm, salty water. Since March, Texas has recorded seven of the 10 driest months in 116 years, so scientists had anticipated a red tide.

Earlier this summer, Texas Parks and Wildlife marine biologist Meridith Byrd said she hosted a meeting of researchers to discuss how best to respond. "People have gone back and looked through the weather patterns and records and noted that red tides tended to occur in dry years." Byrd said.

In a wet year, when plenty of freshwater is flowing into Texas bays from rivers the salinity levels stay lower and stop any red tide that might try to encroach from deeper in the Gulf of Mexico, she said. That hasn't been the case this year.

The geographic scope of this red tide — affecting areas from Galveston to South Padre Island — is the largest since 2000, Byrd said from her office in Victoria. A variety of dead fish have been reported washing up in places since last month — including a 6-foot tarpon on Padre Island this weekend, but so far this bloom hasn't produced a fish kill as severe as others, Byrd said.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/gulf-algae-bloom-affects-much-texas-gulf-coast-210516407.html

All algae-to-fuel ideas rely on algae being grown in controlled environments (ie ponds, canals or vats) where you can drastically increase the amount of biomass per gallon of water and make harvesting easier.

In order to get any appreciable amount of algae from the Gulf for biofuel production, you'd have to have a net miles across with very, very small pores. And with a net fine enough to sieve algae from the water, anything else (shrimp, fish, turtles, dolphins, etc) doesn't stand a chance of escape.