NOAA has awarded Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution $120,000 as part of an anticipated three-year, nearly $500,000 project, to determine how nitrogen and phosphorus promote brown tides on the East Coast. Funds were awarded through the interagency Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, represented at NOAA by the National Centers for Coastal [...]
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science researchers and their collaborators found that ten invasive tunicate species are fouling shellfish aquaculture operations along much of the U.S. East Coast, causing decreased growth rates, increased mortality, and high maintenance costs. The survey identified the locations of highest fouling, which will be used to develop a plan to [...]
Background First discovered in the late 1980s, Pfiesteria bloomed in 1997 in Chesapeake Bay tributaries in association with fish kills and human health problems, resulting in large economic losses due to lost seafood sales and tourism. That outbreak led to a large research effort to understand the causes and prevent or minimize the impacts of [...]
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has released “Magnitude and Extent of Contaminated Sediment and Toxicity in Chesapeake Bay“, a report that provides chemical contaminant and benthic organism information useful for management planning efforts and understanding the Bay ecosystem. Sediment contaminants often pose ecological and human health risks through degraded habitats, loss of [...]