QINGDAO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The biggest algae bloom in history has hit Qingdao, a port city in east China's Shandong province, covering 1,746 square kilometers of the Yellow Sea, authorities said.
The figure is 2.3 times the size in 2013, the second most serious year, according to data provided by the North China Sea Marine Forecasting Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
As of June 26, the green algae was distributed over an over of 60,594 square kilometers in the Yellow Sea.
In Qingdao, the algae covered 551 square kilometers of the sea as of June 30.
The algae bloom has affected the tourist city for 15 years in a row.
Qingdao issued an orange alert for a marine algae disaster, the second-highest following a red one, on June 18 and activated a Level II emergency response.
The city has mobilized more than 7,000 vessels, which have salvaged 240,000 tonnes of algae so far. The center said the algae bloom would continue to affect the area until mid-August.
Vast laver farms in the shallows of the southern Yellow Sea are a hotbed for the algae to grow in large amounts and float into the sea, satellite and vessel monitoring information shows.
The city is exploring ways to use the algae to produce fertilizer, but industrial sources said further research is need to improve the technology and reduce the costs. Enditem
