Shellfish cover the beach in Cucao, on Chiloe Island, Chile, Monday, May 9, 2016. The government has declared an emergency zone along Chile's south as it deals with the algae known as red tide, which kills fish with a toxin that paralyzes the central nervous system, and small-scale fishermen are demanding compensation. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

The toxic algal bloom that's caused dead sea creatures to wash ashore in droves in Chile is still increasing in size, officials say.

Called red tide, it's become an environmental crisis rather than its usual, relatively mild annual occurrence. According to Reuters, it's the largest red tide in the history of Los Lagos, all but ruining the local economy as fishing has been banned because seafood is too toxic to consume.

And it's showing no sign of slowing down.

“The red tide zone is going to grow, it is a changing phenomenon,” Raúl Sunico, the deputy minister for fishing and aquaculture, told local news radio station Cooperativa.“Highly toxic samples have been taken in the region of Los Ríos, which obliges us … to close areas of the region to resource extraction.”

(MORE: Did Red Tides Cause the Largest Whale Stranding in History?)

What's making this year's red tide so extreme? Some experts are pointing at El Niñowhile others are blaming aquaculture.

"The Chilean ocean is shifting and changing," said Sergio Palma, an oceanographer at Valparaiso Catholic University, told The ABC. "There has been a series of events that indicate an El Nino which is making its presence felt in many ways."

Regardless of the cause, the reality is that Chile's coast is seeing thousands of tons of salmon and sardines, as well as tons of shellfish, dying off at an alarming rate. The effects on the marine and coastal ecosystem in the region could be seen for a while yet.

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