09/06/2021
Fishing is poor this week due to weather and a big Algae bloom.
A considerable bloom has been notified to The Highland Council. Satellite imagery provided by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) shows the vast extent of the bloom in The Minch which is spreading along the coastline of the Isle of Skye with potential for the bloom to impact across multiple locations. The situation is being monitored by Highland Council Environmental Health Department in partnership with SEPA and wider colleagues.
Contact with blue-green algae and the toxins it may produce can have health effects for humans and animals; As a precautionary measure contact with any algal scum should be avoided by people and pets.
• Blue-green algae exists in the UK and throughout the world; they are noticed when their concentrations increase to form “blooms” and when they form scums – looking like blue-green paint or when they collect on the shore line.
• Some blue-green algae may give rise to adverse medical effects – but not always. Effects on people coming into contact with toxic scums include skin rashes, eye irritation, vomiting and diarrhoea, fever and pains in muscles and joints. Toxic algae have caused deaths of livestock and dogs, waterbirds and fish.. The actions currently taken are precautionary.
• The behaviour of algae is erratic and the level of its toxicity can fluctuate; it can appear one day, be dispersed by the wind and mixing and re-accumulate at any time.
