04/05/2020 - Environment

KEY POINTS

·         Algal blooms occupy an area that isvery huge. And since they are not a preferred food for most higher trophic organisms, they mostly attract only salps, jellyfish and turtles, thereby short-circuiting the food chain in the Arabian Sea.

·         At least 120 million people along these coasts are now at risk. Our countries have to act now, to escape the growing crisis.

·         The new study, entitled Ecosystem state change in the Arabian Sea fuelled by the recent loss of snow over the Himalayan- Tibetan plateau region, is an unusually all-encompassing snapshot of the interconnected impacts of climate change.

·         Global warming has exerted a disproportionately strong influence on the Eurasian land surface, causing a steady decline in snow cover [in the Himalayas].

·         This has disrupted “winter convective mixing" which occurs when cold winter winds blow over the Arabian Sea, driving the surface waters down, which are in turn replaced by nutrient rich waters from below.

·         That process allows photosynthetic phytoplankton – the basic building block of our ocean food chain – to thrive, along with all the fish species that eventually result in the seafood bounty so many of us rely on. The spectacular growth of Noctiluca demonstrates the scale of the threat to our nutritional security.

·         “In Oman, desalination plants, oil refineries and natural gas plants are forced to scale down operations because they are choked by Noctiluca blooms, and the jellyfish that swarm to feed on them.

·         The resulting pressure on the marine food supply, and economic security may also have fueled the rise in piracy in countries like Yemen and Somalia."

·         We know that Ratnagiri andVengurla in Maharashtraare already seeing these blooms." He also shared an alarming video taken last month by a student researcher in coastal Kerala, that clearly shows “patches when the surface seemed to have a yellow hue full of Noctiluca like cells."

·         Tracking this spectacularly adaptable millimeter-sized organism has proven to behighly effective, because its presence is dead-certain indication of already-disrupted food chains.

From over almost two decades there is exponential spread of tiny plankton i.e. Noctilucascintillans in the Arabian sea.Higher tropic level agents do not feed on these blooms which result in ecological imbalances.

Algal bloom is the rapid increase of algae in  the fresh and marine waters which depletes the supply of oxygen leading to the death of marine life.This rapid spread of algal bloom has negative implications on the countries around the Arabian Sea.

Some the countries surrounding Arabian sea are India,Yemen,Oman,Iran,Srilanka,Maldivies etc.

Implications on India :

India has a vast western coast line with the Arabian sea.Death of acquatic life result in disturbances in the coastal livelihoods thereby impacting the blue economy.Also India imports majority of its oil requirements from Gulf countries,where the ships carrying oil has to pass through these Arabian sea waters.Presence of algal blooms make the transport not suitable result in alternative route searching which is expensive.

Implications on Yemen,Oman and Iran :

Desalination plants,oil refineries and natural gas plants are forced to scale down their operations because of the algal blooms.Since oil and natural gas are the major exports of these countries,lag in operations may push these countries into crisis.Also water for domestic purposes in these countries is tapped from the Arabian sea.Improper functioning of desalination plants result in drinking water problems.

Srilanka and Malidivies :

Both the countries depend on tourism which takes a severe blow due to the increase in algal blooms.The natural recreational water surfaces suffers greatly due to the presence of foul smell and dead zones thereby making difficult for tourist activities like scuba diving,fishing etc.

Thus countries surrounding the Arabian sea have far reaching economical and societal implications due to the massive growth of algal blooms.

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