This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The search for new fuels has led some researchers to algae. Algae is a name for thousands of different organisms. They include single-celled plants as well as kelp and other large plants.

Blue-green algae earlier this year in China

Kenneth Bruland is an ocean sciences professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He says many experts also consider plant-like bacteria to be a form of algae. These bacteria make food from the sun like plants do.

Algae grow quickly and some contain a lot of oils. Most algae-to-energy researchers are growing algae in huge tanks. But one company, Blue Marble Energy in Seattle, Washington, uses algae already growing along coastlines. Workers pump it into bags on a boat. They have to be careful not to suck up young fish or other small creatures.

Blue Marble says its work could help prevent harmful algae blooms. A bloom is when a dense area of algae forms and spreads. Some blooms can harm people, animals or the environment.

Warmer water can cause blooms, and some scientists think global warming is adding to an increase in large ones. Nutrients from sewage and agricultural fertilizers also help algae grow.

Blue Marble is a start-up company with private investors. It also has a contract with Washington state to collect the algae called ulva, or sea lettuce, in parts of Seattle's Puget Sound waterway. In Puget Sound, big blooms of sea lettuce often break down in Dumas Bay. This process of rotting uses up oxygen and kills marine life. And when the sea lettuce washes up on the beach, it smells terrible.

Blue Marble President Kelly Ogilvie says his company has collected almost four thousand kilos of algae in two harvests. The next step is to use bacteria to break down the algae into natural gas and different chemicals. Most companies doing algae-to-energy research are creating liquid biofuels for cars or airplanes.

But some people have concerns about harvesting wild algae. University of Washington researcher Kevin Britton-Simmons says removing the algae does not solve the problem. He says keeping fertilizer and other pollutants out of the water would prevent a lot of unnatural blooms.

He also says it is difficult to tell the difference between natural algae blooms and those caused by human activity. He says removing natural blooms would remove valuable food for marine life.

And that's the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE Report. I'm Steve Ember.

参考中文翻译：

对燃料的研究引导一些科学家将注意力集中到了海藻。海藻是数千种不同的有机体的名称，包括单细胞植物，海草和其他比较大的植物。

Kenneth Bruland是圣克鲁斯加利福尼亚大学海洋科学教授。他说，许多科学家认为形似植物的细菌是海藻的一种。这些细菌像植物一样利用阳光来制造食物。

海藻生长很快，有一些海藻含有很多油分。大多数想将海藻转化成能量的研究者都哦那个巨大的容器培养海藻。但是有一个公司，在华盛顿西雅图的Blue Marble Energy，利用已经生长在海岸沿线的海藻。工人们将海藻泵如船上的袋子里。他们必须非常小心，保证不要吸入幼小的鱼类和其他小生物。

Blue Marble说他们的工作可以防止有害的海藻泛滥，在密集的区域中海藻大规模的形成和传播。有一些会对人类，动物和环境造成危害。

水温升高会造成海藻泛滥，有一些科学家认为全球变暖导致了海藻大规模增加。污水和农业肥料中的营养也可以导致海藻大规模增长。

Blue Marble是一个由私人投资者开办的公司。该公司也与华盛顿州签有合同，在西雅图Puget Sound的部分水域收集一种叫做石莼或者海莴苣的海藻。在Puget Sound经常有大规模的海莴苣泛滥，该过程将海水中的氧气消耗殆尽，使海水生物丧命。而且海莴苣冲到海滩时，味道非常难闻。

Blue Marble董事长Kelly Ogilvie说，他的公司在两次收获中已经收集了接近4000千克海藻。下一步是利用细菌将海藻分解成天然气和其他不同的化学物质。大部分将海藻转化成能源的研究都制造应用于汽车或者飞机的液态生物燃料。

但是有人担心收集野生海藻会有一些问题。华盛顿大学的研究者Kevin Britton-Simmons说移除海藻并不能解决问题。他说，禁止向水体中排放肥料和其他污染物可以避免许多非天然的海藻泛滥。

他还说，很难区分自然的海藻泛滥和由人类活动造成的海藻泛滥之间的区别。他说，如果将天然生长的海藻移除将会消除海生物有价值的食物。