Hazardous algal bloom prompts advisory at Martinez Marina

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KRON) — A public advisory has been issued by the city of Martinez due to a possible harmful algal bloom at the Martinez Marina. Visitors are advised not to touch the water, although the marina remains open.

The advisory follows the discovery of blue-green algae in the marina, which can pose serious health risks if ingested by people or animals. Lori Meehan, operations manager for F-3 Marina, noted that warmer weather and stagnant water can lead to such algae blooms.

“We just wanted everyone to know that the levels right now are higher than normal with bacteria,” said Meehan, operations manager for F-3 Marina.

“There was a local boater that noticed some algae bloom in the water. Independently did some testing and found that in the boat ramp area, there was some algae bloom activity and that the levels were high enough for us to put signs up cautioning folks not to be in the water there,” Meehan explained.

Despite the advisory, the marina has not been closed to the public, and no areas have been taped off. However, visitors are cautioned to avoid contact with the water, and swimming and fishing remain prohibited.

Signage from the State Water Quality Monitoring Council advises staying away from algae and scum in the water, keeping children and pets away, and thoroughly cleaning fish caught near the marina before consumption.

Rudy Para, a visitor, noted, “We can smell the algae. It’s a rotten egg smell.”

F-3 Marina has indicated that the caution signs will remain in place until the weather cools and the water movement naturally reduces the algae presence.

Visitors are urged to heed the warnings and take necessary precautions to avoid health risks.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.