The waters of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea have become hot and hotter in the past two decades adversely affecting the economies of the region, said Parvin Farshchi, deputy at the Marine Environment Division of the Department of Environment (DoE).
The increase in population in coastal cities and excessive effluent and agricultural waste water flow into the seas are the major reasons for the waters warming up and contributing to the growth of harmful algae, he said. With water temperature rising, toxin-producing algae are growing in the southern waters destroying the ecosystem of the coastal areas where marine life including fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and other species face a grave threat, IRNA reported.
Apart from rising water temperatures, the excessive nutrients, particularly phosphates, are leading to increased growth of the algae. The nutrients are said to originate from fertilizers used on agricultural land and flow into the seas along with the waste waters. They may also originate from household cleaning products containing phosphorus. Excess carbon and nitrogen are also suspected to cause algae growth.
The presence of residual sodium carbonate further acts as catalyst for the algae to bloom by providing dissolved carbon dioxide for enhanced photo synthesis in the presence of nutrients.
