As recent as 2012, the State of Texas was impacted by the longest red tide on record, leading to the collapse of its oyster industry and the Governor to seek disaster assistance from the U. S. Department of Commerce. A new study published in the American Chemical Society journal: Chemical Research in Toxicology shows that in [...]
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center funded NOAA and academic researchers to develop a training facility for public health officials and resource managers in advanced molecular methods to detect pathogens and harmful algae species more quickly and effectively. The first workshop, held March 11 – 15, 2013, covered quantitative polymerase chain reaction techniques to detect Enterococcus, the [...]
A species of algae responsible for red tides plaguing Gulf coast communities protects itself by becoming highly toxic when it’s hungry and vulnerable to being eaten by predators, say scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and North Carolina State University. The red tide organism, called Karenia brevis, reacts to low levels of nutrients–particularly phosphorus–by [...]
Invasive species are nothing new. Neither is eating them, as anyone who’s eaten Cambodian water spinach — much of it grown here in Houston — will tell you. But bringing in water spinach from Cambodia and growing it for profit (despite its status over here as a noxious weed) is entirely different from eating species [...]
To help the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary evaluate how well it protects its natural resources, scientists from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science conducted a fish and bottom-dwelling community survey. This concludes the two-year long survey project for the sanctuary. Using technical and scientific scuba techniques, the investigators documented fish and the structure of [...]
Recognizing the urgency to develop clear guidance on reducing the burgeoning lionfish population, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science allied with experts from around the Caribbean to provide a reference for anyone planning to develop a local control strategy. This free manual, Invasive Lionfish: A Guide to Control and Management (PDF), is aimed at resource [...]
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the recipients of their ‘Genius Grants’ yesterday, and one of them is a scientist dedicated to studying the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Nancy Rabalais is a marine ecologist and the executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. A ‘dead zone’ is an [...]
On August 29, researchers at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) published an analysis of NOAA Mussel Watch Program contaminant monitoring data for mercury and methylmercury levels and distributions around the Gulf of Mexico. Data gathered from oyster and sediment samples from Texas to Florida revealed relatively elevated mercury concentrations (hotspots) in the [...]