Red Tide Rising - Not a Palin Quote This Time

Storms in the Gulf are dangerous as they come through, but the leftover rainswollen river runoff is making shellfish industries more threatened than ever. In Massachusetts, shellfishermen are taking a big beating after the wet season there. Now Florida and the Gulf are showing stress.

A link between red tide and rainwater runoff is prompting some researchers to say that this seasons storms could bring more red tide blooms.

In 2005, karenia brevis, commonly known as red tide, took its toll on the Bay area killing countless numbers of sea creatures.

The recent study that linked red tide blooms to rainwater runoff utilized research data that goes all the way back to the 1940s.

USF professor Chuanmin Hu monitors oceanic conditions including: floating algae, oil spills and red tide.

Hu says the new study backs his own findings from a few years back that tied the tumultuous hurricanes season of 2004 to the yearlong red tide algae bloom of 2005.

For my garden, I am happy for the rains to come. In Haiti, three floods in a row have been more than even the usual devastation. In shellfishing industries the damage is growing for the same reason(s). The damages of our climate change are vast, and we are only beginning to see all the varieties that will take.

Projecting future precautions sometimes can't be done until we see what is happening outside our own limited experiences. As Chicago Dyke was pointing out in comments at The Sideshow, Krugman is able to deal with assets, but our working people don't have assets, they are losing basic essential.