อนุทิน 126132

ไชน่าบูม ใหม่และเก่า

บูมใหม่
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Environment/2013/07/04/China_hit_by_massive_algae_bloom_885240.html
04 Jul 2013 - 11:05pm

China's coast has been hit by a massive algae growth, officials say, with vast waves of green washing onto the shores of the Yellow Sea.

Pictures on Thursday showed beachgoers swimming and playing in the green tide in the eastern city of Qingdao, while bulldozers shovelled up tonnes of algae from the sand.

The State Oceanic Administration said on its website the algae, enteromorpha prolifera, started to appear a week ago and had spread across an area of 28,900 square kilometres.

The previous largest bloom was in 2008 when it affected around 13,000 square kilometres, it said... Qingdao officials said they had removed around 7335 tonnes of algae, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The algal phenomenon is usually caused by an abundance of nutrients in the water, especially phosphorus, although the triggers for the enormous blooms which began to appear in the Yellow Sea in 2007 remain uncertain....The algae are not toxic nor detrimental to water quality but lead to extreme imbalances in marine ecosystems by consuming large quantities of oxygen and creating hydrogen sulphide.

[Other reports say China is using a lot of chemical fertilizers at times over 100% more than necessary. But, the Run-off from farms into waterways and seas has not been officially studied.]

บูมเก่า

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2013/07/06/China_regulators_probe_Tetra_Pak_885700.html
06 Jul 2013 - 03:49pm
Chinese regulators are investigating possible abuses by food processing and packaging giant Tetra Pak.

China's national market regulatory agency says it is investigating possible abuse of market dominance by the food processing and packaging giant Tetra Pak.

The probe is a sign that China is widening its scrutiny of operations by foreign companies in China.

Comments from Tetra Pak were not immediately available. Tetra Pak entered China in 1979.

The investigation comes as China is looking into possible price-fixing by foreign dairy suppliers and examining drug costs by 60 foreign and domestic companies.

[Packaging business has been booming in the last 40 years. The amount of packaging materials in 'general wastes' and in environment (including lands, roadsides, waterways, oceans, ...) poses concerns over the world. We pay for packaging when we buy goods. We pay for packaging in garbage collecting tax or fee. We pay for pakaging in our medical (caused by packaging materials) ,...

For China, they use a lot of packaging. They want to benefit more from packaing.]

[KitaTanee]

Hi SR, Thanks to raise to issue of concern. I am following this particular news as well and can see that it's an evidence of human -induced algal bloom. No wonder this due to the discharge into the water . Whether it's the waste (pollution ) from farming, household or industrial plant (packaging??) these were related to the cause of algal bloom in China again this year. Apparently the phenomenon seems to become annually occurring . As we may have known that the Enteromorpha sp. bloom in the sea follow the abundance of nutrients i.e phosphate & nitrate . Although it's been reported not harmful to human , the consequence of oxygen depletion may be the cause of death to marine organisms. As we share the same ecosystem...human pay a big price.. Anyway, this issue pointed a dramatic change in ecosystem. So environmental awareness..is one of the key to success..towards the goal of sustainable .. I guess :-))

[sr]

Hello KitaTanee : I am glad, we have someone looking at algal blooms in our part of the world. I have green algae growing in my little dams (since the flooding early last year). I think it is the same algae as ones on the beach (at Rosedale near Bundaberg). I wonder if (what we thought 'fresh water' algae can now tolerate sea water and are invading the seas, or the algae just get washed down and will soon die in sea water. My test showed my green algae do not like salt ;-)

Please tell me more.

[KitaTanee]

Hi SR, ...well done..you've run a test and the results show that your algae didn't like a salt. Well, your algae is a kind of freshwater species then. However, the green algae (many species) either fresh or marine showed the adaptation to a wide range of salinity as well. In my area ..the Bay, some marine one can survived through the rainy flooding where the mass of freshwater from the channel empty to the Bay . Then later on this particular species thrive again when the salinity back to the normal range they prefer whereas the other doesn't cope with and die off. We can see the fluctuation of algal bloom in the Bay, up and down due to the growth limiting factors at a certain time. However, some algae species which is not a green one but red one i.e Dinoflagellate ..causes a "red tide"..that is toxic to aquatic wildlife...I don't know if this help you....sorry SR..

[sr]

Thank you KitaTanee : I guess 'my' green slimey algae are strictly fresh water species and are not dangerous as far as I can see. I don't know enough about algae anyway. I will wait and see if these algae thicken up in my dams before I look for ways to control them (I can't use salt -- water is for irrigation).

"the Bay" is that the Marina Bay?