From June 19-23, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will lead a research cruise in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The cruise is the seventh of eight planned that will result in the most comprehensive spatial assessment of fish and benthic communities within the sanctuary [...]
The recent rise in sightings of non-native Asian tiger shrimp off the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts has government scientists working to determine the cause of the increase and the possible consequences for native fish and seafood in those waters. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are [...]
Research results on the causes and impacts of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic, or “dead” zone, were featured during a panel discussion on Ocean Hypoxia held in conjunction with the 39th session of the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP). This United Nations Develop Programme event featured Dr. [...]
Volunteers of the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network, working in conjunction with Texas Parks and Wildlife, recently discovered a developing bloom of toxic algal species. Both groups have been monitoring the bloom abundance for the past two weeks along Corpus Christi Bay, Texas. Samples sent to the NCCOS Analytical Response Team were identified as Dinophysis ovum, the [...]
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — One of the largest and longest red tides in Texas history appears to be disappearing, thanks in part to recent and much-needed rains, giving a well-deserved rest to volunteers who helped track the harmful algal bloom. Samples collected and studied by Red Tide Rangers, a group created by the Texas Sea [...]
The January 2012 issue of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)’s Harmful Algae News No. 45 featured NCCOS harmful algal bloom forecasts–both under development and operational. The article, “Harmful Algal Bloom Operational Forecast System in the US,” describes each forecast, how far along it is in development, plans for the future, as well as why each system is [...]
It was October 31, 1987—Halloween Day in the U.S. It seemed to be an otherwise ordinary day, but people on the beaches near Beaufort, North Carolina, were experiencing out of the ordinary respiratory distress. A bloom of “Florida red tide”, the toxic algae Karenia brevis, had unexpectedly appeared in North Carolina coastal waters for the first time on record. It [...]
This week, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science are surveying fish populations in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary prior to an experimental closure of certain areas to all fishing and diving. When the sanctuary proposed the closure in its management plan last October, they noted a “perception by some long-time observers [...]