THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA DEPARTMENT - Black Water sightings

Florida Keys commercial fisherman Phil Whitezell had heard of black water, but he hadn't seen it -- until two weeks ago.

His report and others like it to a federal fisheries biologist based in Key West are making black water the talk again after the mysterious phenomenon darkened fishing grounds between Naples and the Florida Keys in 2002.

Whitezell came across the black water west of the Marquesas Islands while he was on the trail of yellowtail snapper Oct. 12 and 13.

That's about the same time satellite images showed an algae bloom in the same region, said Rick Stumpf, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That bloom has lessened in intensity, he said.

But Stumpf also is keeping an eye on a larger algae bloom that started in late September offshore of Venice and now stretches from south of Naples to the Dry Tortugas.

The larger algae bloom has not spawned reports of black water, and it does not show up on satellite images as darkly as occurred in 2002.

The Florida Marine Research Institute sent water sampling kits Wednesday to two fishermen, including Whitezell, so they can take black water samples if they run across it the next time they're out.

A red tide research cruise already scheduled by FMRI plans to take samples of the algae bloom south of Naples next week, said Jennifer Wheaton, research administrator for FMRI's ecosystem assessment and restoration section.

Stumpf said that bloom intensified when it moved south of Sanibel Island, possibly with a bloom of a diatom, a type of microscopic algae, called Rhizosolenia. The same blooms have been occurring north of the Florida Keys, he said.

rest here:

www.naplesnews.com...

Has anyone ever heard of this before? There are numerous theories for what this could be, what do you lot think?

What is black water ??

well that's the question isn't it?

Sounds like "black water" is the color of the water when the algae bloom is there. ... I think...

I had read this a couple of weeks ago. This is truly weird and freaky.

Note this statement:

"In the black water, Whitezell's chum line was not bringing fish to the surface, and what he did catch seemed lethargic and were pale white, he said."

It's like these "black water" regions are big ocean "poop points" where these humongous algae blooms are getting barfed up...eww!

I think we've seen more of space with telescopes than learned the secrets of the deep.

But to answer, I have no idea what Black Water is, and even less of a guess after reading the article!

Last I read on the deep we still didn't have a camera, light or track submersible that could come close to mapping and viewing the marianahs trench. Maybe that's changed... but I'm sure there's more life down there than known.

Black water was referred to as dead water by some observers in the past. I forgot about this story. Seems it did not go away.

In a time when men have transcended gravity, stopped light, transmitted information in nanoseconds, split atoms and spied far galaxies, it is almost ludicrous to say that it knows nothing of its homeworld. Yet this is true. Even with all we have, we know maybe ten percent of what our planet is about and what happens on it.

Telling, isn't it...

XAOS

I thought the ecologists determined it was runoff from the Everglades. Here's a big pic from NASA > antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...

The Florida Everglades are dying. Floridians have known this for years. Lake Okeechobee gets too high and they open the floodgates and let out a lot of agriculturally polluted water. The area around Lake Okeechobee is nothing but agriculture. I believe it's just the Everglades way of trying to get rid of the excess drainage from the Lake.

This is in my neck o' the woods yall. It's not pretty.

"In the black water, Whitezell's chum line was not bringing fish to the surface, and what he did catch seemed lethargic and were pale white, he said."

Sounds about right...as the algae is depleting the water of it's oxygen, and likewise, the fish....much like it does in a home aquarium. This particular strain simply has darker blooms... So in essence, the water could be described as "dead" as it lacks oxygen and other nurishing attributes, causing the lethargy and the paleness in the fish.....

all this is is probably just a really deep part of teh pcean, there are many dark spots all over the place. i mean it will stop somewhere it's jsut too dark down there so it will look black

ok, maybe i was a bit wrong, i just took a look at the picture of it, it's more green than dark so it probably is a mass of Algae

I live and work in an SSSI (site of Special scientific interest) in the UK. I work for a US oil major.
WE had a spill a few years ago- the hydrocrabon provides a rich food supply for simple life forms and we suffered a red algea bloom that gave similair symptoms to the local fish as you state (birdlife was screwed up anyway). The red algea is toxic to fish (and humans- avoid shellfish)- this may also explain "black water"- especially where dispersants have been applied- often causing an emulsion under the surface (out of site- out of mind). I have some tech knowledge in this area and what you are describing fits really well- you would be amazed how much oil goes in the water with no-one ever knowing !

"Oh black water, keep on rollin', Mississippi Moon won't you keep on smilin' on me "

(Classic rock stations come in really good by me! )

im sorry but i thought alge was suppose to be green, i have never heard of it being black before