LSU specialist concludes it’s algae, not oil, in Gulf

An LSU algae specialist on Monday concluded that the red substance covering miles of the near-shore Gulf off the Mississippi River delta is algae, not oil, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.

MATTHEW HINTON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Oil was spotted in West Bay just west of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River, seen at top left, by the Gulf of Mexico Friday October 22, 2010.

Fishers and BP clean-up crews that have motored through the substance since last week have insisted that it looks, smells and feels like oil.

“It was brown; it was sticky; it smelled like the oil you drain from your car; and it took my husband, Bill, and friends a long time to scrub it off our boat,” said Cindy Cruikshank of Destrehan, who was fishing in the area Saturday.

State biologists said large algal blooms are not unusual along the Louisiana coast from spring to fall because the nutrient-rich waters from the Mississippi River often become warm enough to support their explosive growth. Read more at www.nola.com