Napier’s algal-blooming water a low-risk nuisance

The brown waves rolling into Napier from the deep blue sea on Tuesday. Photo / Paul Taylor

A coastal algal bloom besetting the shores around Napier for a fortnight continues as an unsightly and sometimes pungent marine phenomenon, but is not worrying those who venture most often onto the ocean.

The bloom was first noticed as a reddish-to-purple hue a few hundred metres out to sea across Hawke Bay, visible from Whirinaki to Awatoto, earlier this month.

It has been monitored by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council since December 16, but while visually and occasionally pungently unpleasant, it is regarded as low-risk.

Close watchers say it appeared to reach a peak on Tuesday, and near low-tide late on Wednesday it still stretched across Ahuriri, where a minimal number of bathers were in the waves, and into the inner harbour, with a smoky and rusty flow around the West Quay moorings to its extremes near the Napier Sailing Club launching ramp.

While it might not have been the best for holidaymakers expecting better during the Christmas and New Year season, fishermen at the West Quay moorings noticed the change – including with a possible rare catching of a conga eel in the harbour, and the sight of schools of mullet.

Fishing industry veteran Nino D’Esposito said that in close to 50 years in fishing he’d “never seen anything like it”, but down at the Hawke’s Bay Sport Fishing Club, manager Neil Price said the recreational members had talked of it, but also said that once they were a few hundred metres offshore, the sea was clear and blue.

While the regional council has regarded it as low-risk, it has advised as a precaution that it’s not wise to swim or take shellfish in the blooming water.