Marine Ecosystem Decay

Environmental Decay and the Rise of Slime

• Hurricane damage to staghorn corals in Discovery Bay 26 years ago was underestimated by scientists who failed to consider overfishing and nutrient loading.
• The reefs of corals have been replaced by forests of seaweeds, leading to fundamental changes in the ocean's composition and chemistry.
• Jeremy Jackson warns that the oceans are at a tipping point, being pushed back to a state resembling the dawn of evolution.
• Moreton Bay in Australia has been overrun by a toxic black hairy weed called Ling via Midas Kula, causing harmful algae blooms and impacting marine life and fishermen.
• The Ling via Midas Kula infestation in Moreton Bay spreads rapidly and creates a cycle of decay, thriving in areas altered by pollution, farm runoff, and overfishing.
• Grove A. Simpson in Georgia has found a way to profit from the decline of traditional fishing by catching and exporting Cannonball jellyfish, which are considered a delicacy in China and Japan.
• Fishing down the food web has led to the depletion of big fish, causing fishermen to adapt and target smaller organisms like krill and squid.
• The emergence of a new type of toxic algae on the West Coast, producing domoic acid, has caused mass die-offs of marine mammals like sea lions and poses a threat to their brain health.
• Toxic algae producing domoic acid causes nerve cells in the hippocampus of marine mammals to continuously fire impulses until they burn out and die, leading to seizures and abnormal behavior.
• The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito has encountered a sea lion, New Shwander, affected by domoic acid, and is conducting an MRI to assess the neurotoxin's damage to her brain.
• The rise of slime and harmful algae blooms is a global phenomenon, impacting marine ecosystems and human activities, and causing fundamental shifts in ocean ecology.
• The trend of environmental decay and the rise of slime highlight the urgent need for conservation and sustainable management of marine resources to prevent irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems.