Is it feasible to predict “slime blooms” or “mucilage” in the northern Adriatic Sea?

A study of the northern Adriatic system has led to an unexpected change in the commonly-held view on the slime blooms observed in its waters. Instead of an excessive inflow of nutrients from rivers, the cause of mucilage blooms is now believed to be the stress on algae induced by a shortage of nutrients. At the beginning of 1993, the system returned to normal after a vulnerable five-year period which was particularly critical in 1988 and 1989.