A marine algal bloom is present at Te Awanga.
This bloom will likely remain in place as long as conditions remain favourable.
It is a bright rust-brown colour and resembles muddy water.
Hawkes Bay Regional Council is monitoring it regularly and samples are being collected. Results show the dominant species to be of low risk to human health.
While algal blooms typically don’t cause issues to people, they can in rare cases. As a precaution, the public are advised not to swim where a bloom is visible.
As algal blooms naturally die off, oxygen levels in the ocean can be severely depleted harming or killing seafloor species that don't have the ability to shift out of the impacted zone.