Patterns show that toxic tides have been on the rise in the past ten years.
In 1987, three people died and more than 100 became ill after eating blue mussels from Prince Edward Island. Autopsies revealed biological poisons in their brains and other tissues. In the last 2 months, thousands of fish have died or become sick in the tributaries of Chesapeake Bay which resembles a pattern of devastation in the North Carolina estuaries where a billion or more crabs, fish and menhaden have been killed. The toxins are microscopic in nature and are classified as algae even though they are not wholly bacterial, animal nor plant. Pfiesteria is an organism that has attracted the attention of scientists only this decade.