Motorboat Runs Through "Red Tide" Algae Bloom in New York Harbor

New York Harbor, NY, USA

This is the story of an aquatic environment out of balance. Though algal blooms have happened throughout history, their frequency is on the rise, and they are indicative of an overload of “nutrients” (principally human waste and fertilizer runoff) into an estuarine system and the resulting population explosion of an organism in response. These phytoplankton are toxic both to aquatic and human life, contaminate bivalve populations, and deplete the water of oxygen, thus killing other aquatic species (like fish). The warming trend in water-bodies is a contributing factor toward algal blooms.