STONY BROOK, N.Y., June 29, 2000—Brown Tide, the common phrase for a —nuisance algal bloom, is menacing South Shore beaches on Long Island, creating the worst problem of its kind in years, according to leading researchers at the University at Stony Brook.
This is the earliest case of Brown Tide we have ever seen in the Great “South Bay and may be the most intensive and extensive we have ever see it,” said Taylor, an Associate Professor in the University’s Marine “‘Science Research Center (MSRC). “It is hitting the bay, and it is back “with a vengeance.”
Taylor and several other research colleagues at the nationally renowned MSRC collectively have been studying the phenomenon of Brown Tide in and around Long Island coastal waters for over 13 years. Robert Cerrato, Robert Wilson, Sergio Sanudo-Wilhelmy, and Darcy Lonsdale, and their students, are the other MSRC researchers examining the issue of Brown Tide.
Although the current development of Brown Tide in Great South Bay is not understood at present, the MSRC research is focusing on such potential causes as the quality of groundwater inflow to local bays, negative impacts on algae-feeders, and meteorological influences, such as rainfall patterns, water temperatures, and wind shifts that affect water circulation. Research is developed for and provided to local, state, and national government agencies such as the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, and New York State Sea Grant.
We know that the Brown Tide organism occurs throughout the Atlantic “Ocean, but only rarely produces Brown Tides anywhere else but around Long Island,” Taylor said. “The most challenging and interesting question we “need to answer is, ëWhy has it chosen Long Island’s bays as its home to ‘wreak ecological havoc years after year, and nowhere else?’ Once we answer ‘this question, solutions for controlling this problem will be easier to identify.”
