Harmful Algae

Harmful algae are species of microalgae that can produce toxins that lead to impacts on fisheries, aquaculture, swimming and other recreational uses of estuarine environments. They are a growing phenomenon worldwide, in some cases related to increasing eutrophication and modification of water bodies, as well as marine climate change. In Australia, there is a select, but growing, group of biotoxin-producing estuarine microalgal species that have been documented to cause impacts here in terms of seafood poisonings, the deaths of fish or other marine life, and direct human impacts due to skin exposure or respiratory complaints.