A massive outbreak of algae is threatening to destroy the Chinese Olympics’ sailing event.

The sea off the city of Qingdao has been turned green by the algae and a vast number of fishing boats have been drafted in to deal with the problem. Have a look at AP’s photo gallery for an idea of the scale of the problem, which has led both AFP and Bloomberg to note that this is not quite the ‘green Olympics’ China had in mind.

“It’s a climatic disaster and we can only hope the heavens will be kind to us in August,” Wang Haitao, sailing spokesman for the games told Bloomberg. “We can only haul the blue-green algae manually and we’re doing all we can with our arms full and by the boat-load.”

Michael Jones, director of Australia’s sailing team, says the boats should be able to deal with the problem. They have previous experience, he told Radio Australia.

“First year we were there we had a massive problem with jellyfish. I have just never seen so many jellyfish and the size and density of them in my life, and so again they mobilised a fleet of, we are talking 200-300 so of junk type boats, and they just worked day and night trawled the area.”

AFP points out that Qingdao means Green Island.

Image: stock photo / Getty