Pumping bottom water to prevent Korean red tide damage caused by Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef

Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef produces annual massive blooms in Korean coastal waters which cause great damage to aquaculture and fisheries. Although various methods have been developed to remove the red tide of C. polykrikoides, release of yellow loess has been regarded as the most desirable technique for mitigation for over 10 years. Each August, strong irradiation generates water column stratification separating warm surface from colder bottom waters. Water from a distance of 0 (St. 1), 5 (St. 2), 10 (St. 3), and 15 m (St. 4) was pumped by running a pump for 0, 10, 30 and 90 min and characterized water temperature, salinity collected, suspended solids, Chl-a, and phytoplankton including C. polykrikoides. After running for 30 min, was temperature and salinity in surface water was similar to those of bottom water, and water column stratification completely reversed after 90 min. Likewise, suspended solids, Chl-a, and total phytoplankton cell density decreased after 30 min, but C. polykrikoides did not show strong removal because of low cell density during sampling. However, the number of C. polykrikoides was significantly diluted (80%) after 90 min. These results suggested that pumping device was as an environmentally-friendly method convenient to be install in fish cages and effective to remove C. polykrikoides stratified water column conditions.