A NCCOS Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB)-funded study at the University of Washington and the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory in Seattle has developed a unique and convenient way to detect very low levels of exposure to the harmful algal toxin domoic acid in laboratory zebrafish and in wild California Sea lions. [...]
NOAA scientists and their colleagues have discovered a biological marker in the blood of laboratory zebrafish and marine mammals that shows when they have been repeatedly exposed to low levels of domoic acid, which is potentially toxic at high levels. While little is known about how low-level exposure to domoic acid affects marine animals or [...]
Where, how and why harmful algal blooms occur off coastal Washington and Oregon and predicting their arrival on coastal beaches is the goal of the NCCOS sponsored harmful algal bloom (HAB) project “PNWTOX” (Pacific Northwest Toxins). A PNWTOX model developed for HABs is being put to use to help forecast the movement of the debris field [...]
Public health officials have their hands full keeping your clam chowder and raw oysters safe. That’s due, in part, to red tides. Red tides happen nearly every year as coastal waters warm, killing fish and poisoning shellfish along U.S. coasts. They’re not actually tides — they’re huge blooms of naturally-occurring toxic algae. If people eat [...]
Interdisciplinary, cross-agency partnerships are key to managing ecosystem-scale challenges but the ability to form lasting partnerships that truly meet the science needs of managers is often hindered by our ignorance of the challenges and benefits of institutional collaboration. The Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom (ORHAB) Partnership is the subject of a recent organizational management review [...]
EDMONDS — On the jetty at Brackett’s Landing this past week, volunteers pried mussels from barnacle-encrusted boulders using serrated table knives. The tiny black bivalves dislodged to crinkling sounds on a frigid afternoon were too puny for any self-respecting chef to serve up on a steaming plate. No, these mussels were headed for Ziploc bags [...]
New research findings on deep-sea corals and seafloor topography along the US west coast are providing important information for fishery management decisions in the region. These fragile habitats are subject to protection under the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act of 2006. The Act gives authority to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) to modify protection zones and [...]
A project to model favorable habitat areas for the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella is underway in Washington’s Puget Sound. Sediment from nearly 100 sites will be sampled during two cruises in January and February and the cyst abundance mapped. Alexandrium produces potent neurotoxins that accumulate in shellfish and cause severe illness or death in people who eat [...]