'Toxic' seaweed spreading on France's northern coast

Clarisse Luca Yahoo News 11 Aug 09;

SAINT-BRIEUC, France (AFP) – Mounds of putrified green algae are building up on France's northern coast, releasing poisonous fumes blamed for the recent death of a horse and the collapse of the rider.

Part of the coastline has been declared off-limits as local authorities acknowledge they are unable to get rid of the decomposing seaweed that has washed up on shores in more than 80 communities across Brittany.

Green groups accuse President Nicolas Sarkozy's government of turning a blind eye to an "environmental cancer" caused by the algae and blame intensive farming for producing nitrates that feed the seaweed's toxicity.

Veterinarian Vincent Petit lost consciousness and his horse collapsed when he slipped on a patch of rotting algae near the beach of Saint-Michel-en-Greve on July 28.

The horse died almost instantly and Petit was pulled to safety by a crew of workers who happened to be nearby.

The veterinarian has since threatened to sue local authorities for reckless endangerment, raising alarm in a string of coastal communities in Brittany's Cote d'Armor region.

"The death of the horse may be the opportunity to get things moving so that finally, something is done," said Rene Ropartz, mayor of Saint-Michel-en-Greve.

Some 400 people turned out Sunday for a rally on the town's beach to demand action from the government to deal with the green algae problem once and for all.

Already this year, the town of 500 souls has spent a paltry 150,000 euros (212,000 dollars) to clean up the algae and that effort is floundering over the growing masses of the nuisance.

"Two or three years ago, we would collect a maximum of 21,000 tonnes of algae. But this year, we are going to beat those records by a long shot," said Ropartz.

Yvette Dore, mayor of the nearby town of Hillion, said clean up operations had yielded in early August the same amount of green algae usually collected by the end of October.

The problem has plagued the area for more than 30 years but local leaders say more green algae has washed up this year and new territory is being invaded on the Atlantic coast.

The green algae develops in shallow waters such as the wide bays in Brittany, fed by the farm chemicals seeping into the water.

Environmental groups say the onus is on Brittany's farmers, mostly pig raisers, to take action to prevent nitrates from polluting the water.

The group Eau et Rivieres de Bretagne on Monday accused the government of ignoring the algae problem and said shutting down beaches was not the answer.

"Everyone knows that only a major reduction of the use of fertilizers and other nitrogen chemicals will result in a lower green algae tide," said the group.

Local doctor Pierre Philippe said fumes from the seaweed can be noxious in some cases depending on the state of putrification. His advice is to stay away from them.

"Up until now, it was not a major problem, other than the cleanup and the cost of those operations," said Joel Le Jeune, mayor of Tredrez-Locquemeau.

"But now the safety of people and animals is at stake."

Le Jeune decided to bar access to a strip of 200 metres of coastline where the green algae is thick and potent. Due to the rugged terrain, workers had been unable to clean up that area.

But Dore, the mayor of Hillion, insisted that locally-elected officials were powerless to deal with what she described as an agricultural problem, saying the matter went far beyond their jurisdiction.

The green algae has also been bad for business. Mario Scotto, owner of the last beach hotel in the village of Saint-Michel-en-Greve, blames the foul-smelling seaweed for the drop in tourism.

"It has caused enormous damage," said Scotto.

Lethal algae take over beaches in northern France
Angelique Chrisafis, guardian.co.uk 10 Aug 09;

Its rugged northern coastline is a favourite summer destination for Britons. But holidaymakers have been warned away from certain beaches in northern Brittany that have been swamped by tonnes of potentially lethal rotting green algae.

Hundreds of local residents and environmentalists demonstrated on the otherwise picturesque beach of St-Michel-en-Grève at the weekend as the "green menace" manifested itself in record piles of noxious seaweed swamping the shore.

A man has also taken legal action after he was left seriously ill from breathing in fumes from the decomposing algae. Vincent Petit, a 27-year-old vet, had to be dragged unconscious from a patch of rotting algae a metre deep this month after the horse he was riding collapsed and died from fumes given off by the sludge on the beach. The horse died within minutes.

Last year, two dogs died while walking near piles of algae on a beach close by.

Local mayors said more than 70 beaches had been hit by the seaweed that has plagued the coastline for more than a decade, but which this year reached unprecedented levels.

Some town halls in Brittany are spending more than €100,000 (£86,000) a year on bulldozing the seaweed away, but levels are still rising. The seaweed is harmless when it is alive, but as it decomposes on the beach – often releasing a foul stench of rotten eggs – the gases can be toxic. On the Côtes d'Armor coast, certain patches of shore have been closed and warnings have been issued to the public.

Environmentalists blame pollution from intensive farming. Brittany has a high concentration of pig, cattle and poultry farming and campaigners say nitrates from the farms are polluting the water system and feeding the prolific algae, which are then washed in to shore.

André Ollivro, vice-president of the campaign group Halte aux Marées Vertes (Stop the Green Slick), said: "Places where I used to sail, where my children used to build sandcastles on the Bay de Saint-Brieuc have disappeared under green algae and sediment. The solution is to stop pollution from intensive farming. It literally stinks inland because of places like pig farms – and now it stinks by the sea."

Local authorities said they had made efforts to minimise the level of agriculture in the area and to reduce quantities of farming refuse released into the sea.

The Centre for Study and Evaluation of Algae in Brittany said the problem was not "systematic" and tourists should not stay away from the whole region.

Potentially toxic algae has posed problems elsewhere in the past, including in Wales, where warning signs were put up this summer at a Snowdonia lake, near Llanberis in Gwynedd, warning lake users not to swim in the water or let animals drink it. The warning was later lifted after the council said tests showed that the algae blooms had subsided and that the lake was safe to use. The algae responsible for the problems in Wales, Anabaena spirioides, has a 50% chance of being toxic.

In New Zealand, an unidentified toxic algae was blamed this week for causing the deaths of two dogs on beaches in Auckland. Scientists who tested samples said the deaths were caused by a naturally occurring neurotoxin.

Toxic seaweed clogs French coast
Michael Hirst, BBC News 11 Aug 09;

Holidaymakers beware - the picturesque beaches of north-west France are not as safe as they may seem.

The culprit is not a rogue shark or a plague of venomous jellyfish, but an innocuous-looking seaweed.

Ulva Lactuca - more commonly known as sea lettuce - is harmless while living, but when it decays on land it forms a crust under which a deadly gas forms.

This year has seen unprecedented levels of the algae being washed ashore on Brittany's beaches, heightening concerns along a coastline that is visited annually by an estimated 9m tourists - 700,000 of whom come from the UK.

"When you walk into the crust of such accumulation, you make a hole in a reservoir of hydrogen sulphide, and this gas is very toxic," said Alain Menesguen, director of research at the French Institute for Sea Research and Exploitation (Ifremer).

"It can make animals or people unable to breathe, so you can die in less than a minute," he told the BBC.

Intensive farming

Environmentalists say decades of misuse of Brittany's agricultural land is to blame for the phenomenon, due to the high levels of nitrates used in fertilisers and excreted by the region's high concentration of livestock.

Despite its small population of 3m people living on just 5% of the country's agricultural land, Britanny is home to 60% of France's pig farms, 45% of its poultry farms and 30% of its dairy farms, said Jean-Francois Piquot of the environmental group Eau et Rivieres de Bretagne.

Nitrates used in farming leach into local rivers, and combine with the summer sunshine to cause an explosion of algae growth around the river estuaries, he told the BBC.

As the seaweed is then washed ashore, tonnes of the slimy green substance are left to rot on hot sand along parts of Brittany's 1,650-mile (2,700 km) coastline.

Certain areas have been blighted by the algae for more than three decades, but the problem is worsening.

Despite annual clearance efforts - some councils spend more than 100,000 euros (£86,000) bulldozing putrid piles from their beaches each year - local authorities acknowledge they are no match for the tide of seaweed.

Mr Piquot said local authorities had wasted 1bn euros in the past 30 years collecting the sea lettuce and trying to get rid of it.

Only a third of the 200m cubic metres of the algae washed ashore had been cleared, and clearance treatment was prioritised for those beaches popular with tourists, he added.

A spokesman from the Brittany Tourist Board said only three beaches in the Cotes d'Armor - one of Brittany's four departments - were affected.

"The British public should be reminded that Brittany's beaches are continuing to be cleaned very regularly and monitored on a daily basis," he said.

Action at last?

Some officials argue they are powerless to deal with an agricultural problem that lies beyond their jurisdiction.

With algae levels continuing to rise, activists and locals alike blame French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government of failing to adequately address the worsening problem.

"Only a major reduction of the use of fertilisers and other nitrogen chemicals will result in a lower green algae tide," said Mr Piquot.

Ifremer's Mr Menesguen told the BBC's World Today programme that despite the dangers, only one beach had been closed since a local vet was dragged unconscious from a metre-deep pile of the rotting algae earlier this month.

Vincent Petit, 27, had been horse riding when his mount collapsed after inhaling fumes from the algae.

His horse died within minutes, and Mr Petit has threatened to sue local authorities for reckless endangerment.

The Brittany Tourist Board said the "isolated" incident was being treated very seriously.

Local communities hope it will finally spur the authorities into action.

On Sunday, a 400-strong crowd gathered on one local beach demanding an adequate response from Mr Sarkozy's government.

Eau et Rivieres said a central programme to cut the quantities of nitrates being used in the area was long overdue, but the government had proved "incredibly passive" in promoting sustainable agriculture.

"The state's indifference is the worst kind of pollution," said the group.