The New Brunswick Department of Health is urging residents to use caution in and around the Saint John River, where cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, has been found in several places.

“If they’re dried, they could be looking brown-ish or grey-ish on the rocks, or a bloom that looks like brightly coloured paint scum, or brightly coloured paint poured on the surface of the water,” said New Brunswick central regional medical officer of health, Doctor Na-Koshie Lamptey.

The algae are photosynthetic bacteria which can contain dangerous neurotoxins.

“Those neurotoxins impact the nervous system, stop muscles from working, so they are highly toxic, can cause paralysis, suffocation and eventually death,” said Janice Lawrence, an aquatic biology researcher at University of New Brunswick. “Some of the toxins will cause minor skin irritation and a lot of people might not know they’re exposed to them.”

Lamptey advises residents to supervise their kids and pets when they are near the river.

“Ingestion is the most significant exposure route for potentially getting ill from blue-green algae,” said Lamptey.

Some New Brunswickers say although they understand the threat, they aren’t going to let the algae affect their summer plans.

“My young fella, I don’t think I would let him swim in it right now, with all that’s been going on, but we definitely still want to enjoy our summer activities. We love fishing, and it’s not going to stop me,” said Ryan Wickholm.

Others are taking the risk more seriously, especially after it may have contributed to a local dog’s death nearly one week ago.

“I just don’t want to take any risks,” said Tyler Tierney. “I used to live in Halifax, and we had the same problem last year, so a lot of people weren’t able to use the parks.”

Doctor Lamptey says although everyone should be taking precaution, the cyanobacteria blooms should not stop you from getting outside and enjoying the summer months.

“Just like there are other things in the environment we need to look out for and take precautions for, blue-green algae is one of them” said Lamptey.

The Department of Health is urging anybody who plans to visit a lake or body of water, to check their website to see if blue-green algae have been detected there.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jessica Ng