CHINA: OLYMPICS - Blooming sea algae in China's Olympic co-host city Qingdao is being cleaned up before the Olympic sailing events
Record ID:
573727
CHINA: OLYMPICS - Blooming sea algae in China's Olympic co-host city Qingdao is being cleaned up before the Olympic sailing events
- Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS - Blooming sea algae in China's Olympic co-host city Qingdao is being cleaned up before the Olympic sailing events
- Date: 1st July 2008
- Summary: QINGDAO, SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA (JUNE 30, 2008) (REUTERS) ALGAE COVERING SANDY BEACH ALGAE FLOATING ON WATER ALGAE FLOATING ON WATER CRANE CLEANING UP ALGAE ON BEACH CRANE WORKING PEOPLE CLEANING UP ALGAE ON BEACH MAN AND WOMAN PUTTING ALGAE INTO BAG MAN PUTTING ALGAE INTO BAG WOMAN CARRYING ALGAE WOMAN STANDING AMONG PILE OF ALGAE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) YUAN HUIFANG, LOCAL RESIDENT SAYING: "We are doing this for our Olympics. All of us are working together. We all think it's our duty to do so." TWO WOMEN CLEANING UP ALGAE WOMAN STANDING BARE-FOOTED IN WATER PEOPLE PUTTING BAGS OF ALGAE ONTO PILE PEOPLE HANDING OVER BAGS OF ALGAE PEOPLE WORKING BOATS CLEANING UP ALGAE ON SEA CRANE PUTTING ALGAE INTO BARGE TRAINING BASE FOR OLYMPIC SAILING COMPETITON SAILORS STANDING BY BOAT SAILORS WALKING AROUND BOATS VARIOUS OF CHINESE SAILORS PREPARING BOAT (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOLIN BONACIC, HEAD COACH OF CROATIAN SAILING TEAM SAYING: "There are big problems with the sea grass. But we all expect that it will be fixed until the Olympic Games. And we expect there are light winds and conditions similar as last year for testing." LANTERN POSTS SHAPED LIKE OLYMPIC TORCH LOGO OF BEIJING OLYMPICS
- Embargoed: 16th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Environment / Natural World,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA1J2G2R3ODPXBBYP1EDMVQOGPW
- Story Text: The biggest hit of sea algae bloom in decades is devouring the golden beaches and aquamarine seas of Qingdao, where the sailing competitions of the Beijing Olympic games will be held 40 days later.
More than 12,000 square metres of the green algae (Latin name Enteromorpha prolifera), are floating towards Qingdao from offshore East China Sea.
Authorities have so far cleaned 8,626 tonnes of floating weed from coastal waters and scooped up another 13,665 tonnes that had washed up on local beaches, a report posted on the Qingdao government website (www.qingdao.gov.cn) said.
Thousands volunteers were helping cleaning up the algae along over 120 kilometres of the city's coast line. Some of them started the job as early as six o'clock in the morning.
"We are doing this for our Olympics. All of us are working together. We all think it's our duty to do so", said Yu Huifang, a local volunteer while she was busy cleaning the algae.
Local residents told a Reuters reporter that this had been the biggest outbreak of sea algae in their memory.
The venue for the Beijing Olympics sailing competition is under threat as half of the water surface are covered by the floating algae.
Sailors said the sea algae, commonly known as "sea hair", would entangle their boats and seriously affect the competitions. But sailors at the marina said they had confidence that the organisers would handle the situation.
"There are big problems with the sea grass. But we all expect that it will be fixed until the Olympic Games. And we expect there are light winds and conditions similar as last year for testing," said Golin Bonacic, Head Coach of Croatian sailing team.
Qingdao Sailing Committee has asked navy forces for help.
The authorities are expected to set up a huge net around the Olympic competition site to prevent the flow of sea algae, the competition manager for sailing Qun Chun told Reuters.
The Sailing Committee has said they would make sure the games in August would not be affected by the algae.
Qingdao municipal government has established a unit to reduce the impact of the sea algae. Soldiers have been mobilised to help with the work.
Enteromorpha prolifera is a harmless algae that grows as individual cells in a tubular strand. It has long been harvested as fertiliser and generally is found growing on rocks. But when conditions are ideal there can be a huge surge in its growth so that it covers the beach and sea, preventing movement of boats.
China's coastal waters and inland lakes regularly suffer algae blooms, often promoted by pollution from chemical factories and fertiliser run-off from farms. A major outbreak last year on eastern China's Tai Lake cut off drinking water to millions of residents in Jiangsu province's Wuxi city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None