Virginia coastal managers can now access water quality and shellfish closure information for an additional site in Virginia state waters to alert shellfish harvesters and protect consumers from pathogenic bacteria, which can cause disease or illness in humans and wildlife.
Increased rainfall bears a strong correlation to pathogenic bacteria, as heavy rainfall within a watershed washes bacteria downstream. Coastal resource managers need to be aware of these conditions to warn shellfish harvesters and the public of the risk of harmful contact or contaminated seafood. Several states rely on NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)-developed tools to inform shellfish harvest restrictions and keep shellfish harvesters updated on potential closures of shellfish beds in local waters.
NCCOS developed GIS based map applications for Virginia, North Carolina, and Connecticut to provide guidance to states based on the strong relationship between pathogenic bacteria and rainfall as measured and predicted mainly by NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) products. The latest rainfall measurements and estimates are gathered from the NWS Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center, NWS Weather Prediction Center (WPC) and the U.S. Geologic Service. Forecasts from the NWS WPC help provide the guidance for upcoming days. Providing this information in one centralized tool for each state improves the efficiency and accuracy of local closure decisions.
These tools provide decision-makers with the latest rainfall totals for the current 24 hour period as well as forecasts for the next three days, and the probability of forecasted rainfall to exceed a defined threshold for the area. This defined threshold identifies the lower level of rainfall when the presence of pathogenic bacteria becomes more likely. Users can click on individual sites to get information specific to those locations.
At the request of the Virginia Department of Health, NCCOS recently added a new conditional site to the Virginia Shellfish Harvest Closure Tool in the Nansemond River in Suffolk, Virginia. With this addition, users can now view recent rainfall, recommendations for closure or opening, and forecasts. This expands the ability for local decision-makers to protect communities from harmful pathogenic bacteria.
Visit our project page to learn more about this ongoing project.
This work supports the Oceans and Human Health Act.