The coastline of the city due to host the Olympic sailing ragetta has been coated with an algae bloom since late May.

 

A bright green covering of algae can be seen smothering beaches and extending out several hundred meters of the city, about 350 miles South-East of Beijing.

 

The algae, the scientific name of which is enteromorpha prolifera, was first detected on May 31, 60 miles East off the Dagong Island by the North China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration and fishermen working on the sea.

 

Iain Percy, a gold medal-winner in Sydney 2000, said that the ocean had “turned green”.

 

He said: “It has appeared in patches about the size of football pitches which are impossible to sail through.

 

"How the organisers are going to be able to set a mile-long sailing course is a real concern.”

 

Warmer waters, increased rainfall and high levels of nutrients in the ocean brought about the algae explosion along vast stretches of the 500-mile coastline, according to the Qingdao Weather Bureau.

 

Qingdao's Government is spending 3.28 billion yuan (£240 million) on a sailing dock and facilities for the Olympics.

 

Wang Shulian, the vice director of Qingdao Oceanic and Fishery Department, today said: "The algae is of various sorts, which will prosper under satisfying temperature and salinity of sea water."

 

However, he admitted that team's preparations for the Olympics had been affected by the algae.

 

Yuan Zhiping, the deputy chairman of the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee, complained that the algae has covered part of the training area and sometimes blocked the routes.

 

Statistics showed that the algae had affected a total sea area of 13,000 square kilometers.    

 

In order to assure the smooth going to the Olympic sailing events, Qingdao officials have mobilised more than 10,000 workers and over a 1,000 ships to clean up the algae in the sea.

 

Already more than 100,000 tonnes of algae have been been weeded out.

 

Wang said, that besides just cleaning, more methods, such as blocking the further inflow of the algae, would also be used to accelerate the clean-up operation.

 

Yuan said: "We have stressed to all the people devoting to this campaign that the priority should give to the Olympic venue and we expect to eliminate all these sea weeds before July 15."