[ti:Scientists Developing New Ways to Fight 'Red Tide'] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.36]A leading scientist says researchers in Florida [00:05.63]are close to developing a way [00:08.35]to control the algae known to cause deadly "red tide." [00:13.15]Michael Crosby heads the Mote Marine Laboratory [00:17.80]in Sarasota, Florida, a leading research organization. [00:23.76]A 10-month-old red tide has been killing ocean life [00:28.08]along Florida's southwestern coast. [00:31.88]Huge numbers of dead fish have washed up on beaches [00:36.35]from the city of Naples up to Tampa. [00:40.08]Red tide can cause problems for humans too. [00:44.92]Contact with the algae can cause breathing difficulties, [00:48.96]burning eyes and skin pain. [00:52.28]On Monday, Governor Rick Scott [00:55.02]ordered emergency measures to deal with the crisis. [00:59.04]Crosby said he welcomed the move, [01:02.40]which releases more money and resources to solve the problem. [01:07.88]The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission [01:11.88]suspects the red tide caused the deaths [01:15.45]and strandings of hundreds of sea turtles this year. [01:19.60]The agency also blames it for at least some of the 68 deaths of manatees. [01:26.76]Other sea mammals killed include porpoises. [01:30.76]The body of an almost eight-meter-long whale shark [01:34.80]also washed up on Sanibel Island, Florida, late last month. [01:40.10]Crosby said, scientists are currently testing a process [01:45.40]that would pump red-algae-filled seawater [01:48.56]through an ozone-treatment system. [01:51.76]Then the purified water would be pumped back into the ocean or waterway. [01:58.92]Crosby said the experiments were carried out in huge 25,000-gallon tanks. [02:06.32]He said all succeeded in removing the poisonous algae. [02:11.48]Crosby said the water chemistry returned to normal within 24 hours. [02:18.60]Scientists also are studying the use of seaweed, [02:23.08]parasitic algae and other organisms to fight the red tide. [02:28.88]Red tides happen almost yearly in Florida. [02:32.72]They start in the Gulf of Mexico, where microscopic algae cells [02:38.05]called Karenia brevis feed on deep-sea nutrients. [02:44.24]Ocean currents carry the algae close to the coast, usually in autumn. [02:50.56]The current Gulf Coast Florida bloom is the worst in more than ten years. [02:56.48]It began last October and has spread across [03:00.45]more than 80 kilometers of coastline. [03:04.40]"It's a bad bloom," said Richard Stumpf, a scientist who studies red tides [03:10.64]for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). [03:15.48]Stumpf said strong northerly winds [03:18.52]that normally end red tides failed to form last winter. [03:23.80]He said it is not clear why. [03:26.36]And he said scientists are not sure if the winds will fail to form again. [03:32.20]Scientist Michael Crosby said the red tide happened [03:36.27]during the reproductive season for snook. [03:39.84]The fish are important for both the environment and economy in Florida. [03:46.08]Part of the emergency money ordered by the governor [03:49.72]will be used to examine the red tide's effects on that fish. [03:55.08]I'm Phil Dierking. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM