This year’s annual Gulf of Maine Harmful Algal Bloom Science Symposium, held in April, included a planning workshop to help coastal managers prepare for future toxic Pseudo-nitzschia blooms. The first-of-its-kind tabletop activity brought together 27 researchers, state managers, and federal scientists to discuss regional bloom scenarios, response plans, and explore how new monitoring tools could support response.
Pseudo-nitzschia blooms can produce domoic acid (DA), a marine biotoxin toxin that can accumulate in shellfish and cause Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) when contaminated seafood is consumed by people or animals. Severe ASP in humans can result in permanent short-term memory loss or death. State monitoring programs help protect public health and seafood safety. However, agencies and stakeholders still need improved tools and coordination to prepare for different toxic Pseudo-nitzschia bloom scenarios. NCCOS and sponsored research partners are delivering better Pseudo-nitzschia and DA detection methods, and expanding existing HAB warning and forecast capabilities.
Pseudo-nitzschia presence is detected annually in the Gulf of Maine, and given the looming uncertainty around toxic bloom timing and severity, an NCCOS-funded team, led by Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, convened a proactive planning workshop at the Gulf of Maine HAB Symposium.
The Gulf of Maine Harmful Algal Bloom Science Symposium was held at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, bringing together representatives from academic institutions, nonprofits, state management agencies, and the shellfish industry from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Canada, and South Carolina. Organized annually through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, this gathering provides a forum to share updates on HAB impacts, progress on collaborative projects, upcoming field plans, anticipated management challenges, and a preview of a NOAA seasonal forecast.
In conjunction with the symposium, a planning workshop was led by Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and encouraged participants to explain what actions they would take in responding to several scenarios based on past events, what information supported those decisions, and what additional information they wanted prior to the next bloom. Responses included increasing water and shellfish sampling frequency along the coast and offshore, improving information sharing, consulting NOAA and regional partners for in-kind support such as satellite imagery, regional coordination calls, or additional sampling capacity, and identifying opportunities for HAB event response support.
Participants stated the workshop helped clarify how states use different information, management approaches, and partner resources when responding to toxic blooms.The effort also sparked discussion about the value of similar proactive response discussions in other HAB-impacted regions, and with targeted audiences such as the shellfish industry.
This workshop was led by Kate Hubbard (FL FWRI), Matt Harke (GMGI), Shelly Wanamaker (UW), Peter Countway (Bigelow), Mindy Richlen (WHOI), and Mike Brosnahan (WHOI) with support from the NCCOS Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) Research Program. Additional support was provided by the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health funded by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems
NOAA is authorized to advance scientific understanding and assessment of HAB events through the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 4001 et seq.).