Marine biologist warns of increased algae due to east side marina

Marine biologist Lewis Stagnetto has warned that the east side planned marina will result in increased seaweed on Catalan Bay.

His warning comes after The Nautilus Project (TNP) Youth Monitors were in Catalan Bay on Wednesday and removed 130kg of the invasive seaweed from the jelly fishnets.

“After several complaints from beachgoers at Catalan Bay, the team, inspired by Ayla Olivares, have taken it upon themselves to collect all the invasive algae that is currently inside the swimming net,” said TNP.

As kilos of bags of the algae, scientific name Rugulopteryx okamurae, were being removed a number of beachgoers joined in and helped.

“The problem is, the invasive algae Rugulopteryx okamurae is presently pretty bad at Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay beaches,” marine biologist Lewis Stagnetto told the Chronicle.

“This is due to the fact that they are surrounded by rocky revetments which provide a hard substrate for the algae to grow.”

“The new marina will add even more rocks to the area with the development of the protective sea wall and this will make the algae situation even worse at Catalan Bay.”

Even though the Youth Monitors and the public removed bags of the problematic algae on Wednesday, the seaweed will return.

With this in mind, a bigger cohort of monitors will meet this morning at 8am to continue their work while also avoiding some of the heat.