Algae-Killed Fish Dumped in Norway : Marine Life Dying as Slime Oozes Way Through Scandinavia

Fishermen dumped tons of dead trout and salmon onto quaysides in southwestern Norway today as a choking belt of slimy green algae moved up the country’s west coast, turning some of the finest fishing grounds in the world into killing zones for rich marine life. The fish, unfit for humans, will be sold as fertilizer.

Researchers and marine biologists say the algae first appeared a week ago on Sweden’s west coast and have wiped out most of the sea life there and off southern Norway. The algae are not poisonous but have blocked the gills fish use to breathe.

Northerly winds have swept the trail around Norway’s coastline and into an area around the port of Stavanger, tourists’ gateway to the great fiords, where fish farms earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year from salmon and trout exports.

In Denmark, fears grew that a change of wind direction this weekend could sweep the 6-mile-wide belt of algae toward the Danish coast.

Dead Fish Off Jutland

There were also reports that dead fish had been found off the coast of Jutland. Arne Nielsen, who heads the Danish Environment Board’s sea pollution laboratory, said algae had been found growing in the German Bight in the North Sea, southwest of Denmark.

Researchers say that the sea along Norway’s south coast could be a dead zone for the next two years as a result. The government today banned all trout and salmon fishing to protect the numbers that remain.

Norwegian marine biologist Einar Dahl said the growth could be natural but scientists are worried that the ecology is “completely losing its balance.”

Some researchers have said the algae, about 10 million for every quart of water, multiplied after industrial pollution of the sea and have been encouraged by warm and sunny weather.

“Nature is taking its revenge,” the Swedish daily Aftonbladet said in an editorial today. “The sea cannot and will not act any longer as the rubbish dump of madness.”

Only deep-sea fish, crabs and eels appear to have escaped.