Sailors take warning!
As we crossed the Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel, last Thursday, we saw a stream of blood red water entering the Bay. When we reached our rental cottage at Smith Beach, we saw not only the red water, but dead fish. We found ourselves in the middle of what’s called a Red Tide.
Red tides, we came to find out, are caused by a rapid, dense population explosion of microscopic, plant-like marine algae known scientifically as a harmful algal bloom.
These organisms live in the water naturally in small, safe numbers year-round, but when ocean surface temperatures are higher, the algae grows faster. Low wind and stable, calm water conditions allow the population to accumulate without being easily scattered and a Red Tide results. High levels of nutrients from fertilizers and runoffs add extra nutrients into coastal waters, which can make these blooms larger or more frequent. The bloom can kill fish because it lowers dissolved oxygen in the water. Most of the dead fish we saw were small fish in shallow water. But by the third day some larger fish had washed up on shore.
Ultimately, the Red Tide dispersed, and we were able to find good fishing in the faster moving waters near Oyster. I have been fishing on the Eastern Shore for 50 years and this was my first – and hopefully last – experience with a Red Tide.
