According to reports, since the beginning of summer, the offshore waters of Qingdao, Shandong Province have been invaded by enteromorpha enteromorpha. This is the largest enteromorpha infestation Qingdao has encountered in 215 years. Why is there such serious Enteromorpha infestation in the offshore waters of Shandong? How should we control Enteromorpha infestation in the future? On July 12, a reporter from Guangming Network interviewed Chen Shang, executive director of the Chinese Ecological Society and an expert in the ecological field, at the 2021 Ecological Civilization Guiyang International Forum to answer this question.
Recently, the green tide of Enteromorpha has begun to invade the waters of Qingdao City . Qingdao City issued a blue warning for marine large algae disasters and launched a four-level emergency response, setting up pre-emptive salvage, offshore defense salvage, bay interception and shallow sea and shore cleanup. Wait for the "four lines of defense" to ensure the cleanliness of the coast and protect the coastal tourism environment. (Photo by Wang Haibin/Guangming Picture)
Enteromorpha is a non-toxic algae widely distributed in the ocean. It emits a foul odor after it loses water and dies. The massive proliferation of Enteromorpha will block sunlight, and its death and decomposition will consume oxygen in the water, adversely affecting the growth of other marine organisms.
Dr. Chen Shang analyzed that the Enteromorpha Enteromorpha disaster was caused by various reasons. The first is seaweed farming by fishermen in Jiangsu and other places. The culture rafts are like nets that can adhere to miscellaneous algae. When fishermen clean the rafts, there are cases where the cleared enteromorpha enters the sea. The second is the cultivation of fish, shrimp and crabs on the tidal flats. Enteromorpha enteromorpha will grow on the breeding ponds. The water in the pond needs to be changed every ten days. When the water is changed, the epiphytic enteromorpha will be discharged into the sea. Third, the sediments on the bottom of the Yellow Sea are mainly mud and sand, which contain spores of Enteromorpha. The spores will be released into the seawater after being stirred up by the waves. These are the three main sources of the flourishing of Enteromorpha.
If Enteromorpha does not dock, it can be regarded as a natural ecological process. However, if it docks, it will cause ecological disasters, loss of marine aquaculture, damage to coastal tourism landscapes, and economic losses.
Since the direction of the sea current from Jiangsu to Shandong is deterministic, it goes from Nantong, Jiangsu to Qingdao, Shandong. Starting from the drifting period in May every year, Enteromorpha enteromorpha encounters suitable water temperatures and the water is relatively fertile. It will grow rapidly while drifting in the sea water, resulting in a large scale when it reaches Qingdao waters from June to July. Large-scale entry of Enteromorpha Enteromorpha will cause serious ecological disasters.
So how to deal with the Enteromorpha disaster? Dr. Chen Shang said that since 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources of has led Shandong Province and Jiangsu Province to carry out joint management and carry out early salvage of Enteromorpha Enteromorpha. During April and May, when the Enteromorpha enteromorpha seedlings are relatively small in the cleaning valve frame, fishermen are mobilized to collect the Enteromorpha enteromorpha. At this time, only tens of thousands of tons of Enteromorpha are recycled, and the problem can be solved with relatively little money. However, if it is delayed until July and the Enteromorpha has grown explosively, the processing cost will increase more than ten times. Salvage work can be achieved through the government-led upstream and downstream horizontal ecological compensation incentive mechanism. It is led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and jointly established by the governments of Jiangsu Province and Shandong Province. can draw lines at the boundaries of Jiangsu and Shandong waters, and is established by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The unit conducts monitoring and uses remote sensing satellites to measure the area covered by Enteromorpha Enteromorpha from the sea area under Jiangsu jurisdiction into the sea area of Shandong Province to determine an assessment indicator. If the actual input area is lower than the assessment indicator, Shandong will compensate Jiangsu, and vice versa, Jiangsu will compensate Shandong. Specific indicators can be agreed upon by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the two provinces, and everyone can be urged to take the initiative through this horizontal ecological compensation mechanism at sea. (Guangming.com reporter Zhang Fan)
Source: Guangming.com
