Researchers aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel said they have detected that toxic algae blooming off the West Coast is much denser. The algae blooming stretch from at least California to Alaska and has shut down lucrative fisheries.

The team stated that this microscopic algae spreads from up to 40 miles wide and 650 feet deep, and is flourishing amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures.

Shellfish managers on Tuesday announced the area off Washington's coast closed for Dungeness crab fishing. The statement came after finding revealed the elevated levels of marine toxins in tested crab meat.

This year’s ‘red tides’, a phenomenon caused by algal blooms, is much larger and persistent with higher levels of neurotoxins, which brings severe consequences for the Pacific seafood industry, coastal tourism and marine ecosystems, said ocean researchers.

Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement that the area now closed to crab fishing includes more than half the state's 157-mile-long coast. This will more likely bring a premature end to this year's coastal crab season, Ayres added.

Anthony Odell, a University of Washington research analyst, said, “We think it's just sitting and lingering out there. It's farther offshore, but it's still there”.

The data collected during the survey also shows clearly what is causing the brown color bloom in water, unlike the blue and green algae found in polluted freshwater lakes.

Odell recently completed the first leg of the survey, mostly in California waters. Furthermore, researchers are planning to continue monitoring the sea between Newport, Oregon, and Seattle.
The brownish bloom was particularly thick off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, Odell said.