Red tide spots off Kuwait being monitored

The Environment Public Authority is monitoring status of the recently-formed red tide spots off the Kuwaiti coast, EPA said on Monday.
Mohammad Al-Enezi, EPA's acting director general, told KUNA the authority has been following up on this renewed phenomenon since last Saturday, when the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources, filed reports confirming location of red spots floating at various locations in the territorial sea waters.
Special teams have scooped up some samples for analysis, he said, affirming capacity to "cope with such emergency situations." The red tide is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom (large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms) when it is caused by a few species of dinoflagellates and the bloom takes on a red or brown color. Red tides are events in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, resulting in coloration of the surface water. It is usually found in coastal areas.