With the June heat, the algal bloom has started and has now started to move towards the Swedish coast and has been seen off Gotland, which is unusually early.
Algal blooms are normal and occur in all lakes and oceans but have become a problem when they multiply on such a large scale. The cause is eutrophication, i.e. the large amounts of plant nutrients that agriculture releases into our waters and reaches the Baltic Sea. Emissions from treatment plants, industry and individual sewers also contribute.
– In the Baltic Sea, up to the Åland archipelago, we see that nitrogen emissions are unfortunately increasing. It is largely due to emissions from activities on land, what we all do and consume on a daily basis that drives the eutrophication, says Mats Johansson, expert on water management and eutrophication at WWF, in a press release.
Outside Bohuslän, the algae are already causing the sea fire phenomenon. But it’s not just the emissions that are behind it. Climate change also contributes to the warming of the oceans in which the algae thrive.
According to WWF, this involves measures such as precision fertilising, keeping agricultural land vegetated all year round so that nitrogen and phosphorus remain in the soil and improving the degree of sewage treatment.