Mississippi beaches reopened to swimmers

Late yesterday afternoon, Oct. 4, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality lifted water contact warnings for all the state’s Gulf shore beaches, reopening them for swimming and wading. Warnings were also lifted for Pass Christian Harbor, Long Beach Harbor and Bay St. Louis Harbor.

“Recent results indicated that while a [harmful algal bloom] was present and/or in bloom, many of the cells of the algae were dying,” MDEQ said in a statement. “Seeing a continuation in this trend, MDEQ moved to the toxicity testing phase of the protocol this week.

“The results received today for water samples collected October 2 for toxicity testing for HAB were all below the EPA guidelines of 8 parts per billion for microcystin toxin.”

Mississippi’s beaches began closing June 22, just as the summer tourism season was going into high gear. Unusually large amounts of fresh water flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the flooded Mississippi River decreased salinity of the water, making an inviting habitat for harmful blue algae. The influx also began killing the marine life of the area, decimating oyster and shrimp populations with a catastrophic effect on the Gulf’s seafood industry.

By July 7, MDEQ had closed all of Mississippi’s beaches to swimming and wading.

“Since monitoring first verified the presence of a Harmful Algal Bloom, our obligation has been to ensure the public’s health was protected. Today’s results are well below the threshold set to protect public health, and we are extremely pleased that we can lift the water contact warnings.” said MDEQ Executive Director Gary Rikard in the statement. “We appreciate the partnership with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in researching and monitoring the HAB over the past several months,”

According to the National Park Service, there has been no observed evidence of the algae bloom impacting the barrier islands of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. All beaches in the park are open. In addition, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resource’s sampling indicates that recreational and commercial fishing offshore in Mississippi waters remains unaffected by the algal bloom and is safe for consumption.