{"id":52825,"date":"2025-04-15T12:36:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/first-case-of-blue-green-algae-confirmed-in-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:36:22","slug":"first-case-of-blue-green-algae-confirmed-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/first-case-of-blue-green-algae-confirmed-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"First case of blue-green algae confirmed in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Reports of blue-green algae at Lough Neagh were confirmed at both Traad Point and Kinturk (Curran’s Quay)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

What is blue-green algae?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Blue-green algae is toxic to animals and can cause illness in humans <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, is a collection of microscopic organisms that are naturally present in lakes and streams.<\/p>\n

Under certain conditions, blue-green algae can become abundant in warm, shallow, undisturbed, nutrient-rich surface waters that receive a lot of sunlight.<\/p>\n

When this occurs, blue-green algae can form blooms that discolour the water, or produce floating mats or scums on the water’s surface.<\/p>\n

The algae are bacteria, which can cause skin irritation and sickness in people who come into contact with it, but the biggest risk is to pets, livestock and wildlife.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What impact does it have on Lough Neagh?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"MarkMark Geddis\/Getty<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lough Neagh is home to significant native species such as eel, trout and pollan<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The largest freshwater lake in the UK supplies half of Belfast’s drinking water and 40% of Northern Ireland’s overall.<\/p>\n

It is also home to the largest commercial wild eel fishery in Europe.<\/p>\n

Sand-dredging, though controversial, has been a business on the lough for more than a century.<\/p>\n

The lough and its catchment area is a vast ecosystem where species such as the curlew and the barn owl could be found in years gone by.<\/p>\n

It has numerous environmental designations – special protection areas, special areas of conservation, areas of special scientific interest and Ramsar status.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, a team that monitors bird numbers around Lough Neagh, said they had noticed a “visible decline” in bird life around the lough.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The NIEA says the season’s first confirmed case was reported on 2 April at Martray Lough in Ballygawley, County Tyrone<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The NIEA said it was also monitoring potential sightings being circulated on social media.<\/p>\n

The season’s first confirmed case was reported on 2 April at Martray Lough in Ballygawley, County Tyrone. <\/a><\/p>\n

A second confirmed case followed in Ballysaggart Lough (Black Lough), in Dungannon, which was initially reported on 9 April and subsequently verified on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

With the recent good weather, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) previously said it was “no surprise that we are beginning to see algae-blooms re-appear again this year”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PacemakerPacemaker<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Environment Minister Andrew Muir says there are “no quick fixes” to blue-green algae<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A spokesperson for Daera said Minister Andrew Muir is “on record a number of times saying that there are no quick fixes, with problems decades in the making and decades in the fixing”.<\/p>\n

“It is therefore unfortunately no surprise that we are beginning to see algae blooms reappear again this year, particularly with the good weather,” the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

They noted that the “scale and severity of blooms in the months ahead will depend on a number of factors, including weather conditions”.<\/p>\n

The minister encouraged members of the public to report any suspected blooms using the Bloomin’ Algae App. <\/p>\n

He said people submitting photographs and locations could help scientists in verifying blue-green blooms and updating the Daera Blue-Green Algae Map Viewer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Reports of blue-green algae at Lough Neagh were confirmed at both Traad Point and Kinturk (Curran’s Quay) What is blue-green algae? Blue-green algae is toxic to animals and can cause illness in humans Blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, is a collection of microscopic organisms that are naturally present in lakes and streams. Under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[6934,10950,659,407],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52827,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52825\/revisions\/52827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}