Giant algae in China bulge

The size of giant blue algae on China's east coast increased by more than 50% and it is heading towards Jiangsu province.

Chinese people clean up algae in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China in 2008. Photo: New York Times .

The island is made up of green algae ( enteromorpha prolifera ) that is drifting at 7-9 km / day. As of June 22, it was about 13 km from Jiaonan City, Shandong Province and about 200 km ^{2 in area} .

Xinhua said the algae island continued to expand to the south and was only about 10 km away from Lianyung City, Jiangsu Province. According to Chinese Oceanographic data, the area of ​​algae has reached 320 km ² days - equivalent to about 4 times the area of ​​Hong Kong island.

Zhu Kongwen, deputy director of Lianyungang's marine and fisheries management agency, said officials have mobilized many ships to join efforts to prevent and destroy algae.

Giant algae blooms formed by water pollution. Although they do not contain toxic substances and do not adversely affect water resources, they absorb a huge amount of air, which makes the animals and plants living in water fall short of oxygen. Their presence makes sunlight unable to reach the water. Algae leave a stench when they drift to the coast, negatively impacting tourism.