Saving Seafood

A large algae bloom has been spotted off Maine’s coast

August 29, 2019 — State officials are monitoring a large algae bloom in Casco Bay that stretches from around Chebeague Island to Phippsburg.

Kohl Kanwit, director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Public Health, said Karenia mikimotoi is a nuisance species that turns the water rusty brown and can have a foul smell. But she said it has no effect on human health and safety, either by swimming or eating seafood caught in the water.

Kanwit said if the bloom gets large enough, it can harm marine organisms.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine: In new cautionary approach, Maine shellfish areas will be closed at first sign of toxins

April 17, 2018 — BOOTHBAY, Maine — Public health officials say they will use extreme caution to manage toxic algae blooms this year to prevent another expensive and potentially dangerous shellfish recall.

In the last two years, sudden toxic algae blooms of a previously unrecorded type of phytoplankton forced the Maine Department of Marine Resources to close huge sections of the Down East coast to shellfish harvesting and to issue rare recalls of tons of clams and mussels from as far away as Utah.

Recalls are bad for public health, business and Maine’s seafood brand, said Kohl Kanwit, head of the department’s public health division, during a workshop Tuesday for harvesters, seafood dealers, regulators and researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay.

“The risk is high; you never get 100 percent back” from a recall, Kanwit said. “It is really costly for the industry and bad all around.”

This year, the department isn’t taking any chances as it monitors for pseudo-nitzschia, a single-cell organism that can bloom unexpectedly and make domoic acid, a dangerous biotoxin that may cause amnesic shellfish poisoning, or ASP, in humans and animals. In serious cases, ASP can lead to memory loss, brain damage or even death. The first recorded ASP event, on Prince Edward Island in 1987, killed three people and made at least 100 sick.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine: In new cautionary approach, Maine shellfish areas will be closed at first sign of toxins

April 11, 2018 — BOOTHBAY, Maine — Public health officials say they will use extreme caution to manage toxic algae blooms this year to prevent another expensive and potentially dangerous shellfish recall.

In the last two years, sudden toxic algae blooms of a previously unrecorded type of phytoplankton forced the Maine Department of Marine Resources to close huge sections of the Down East coast to shellfish harvesting and to issue rare recalls of tons of clams and mussels from as far away as Utah.

Recalls are bad for public health, business and Maine’s seafood brand, said Kohl Kanwit, head of the department’s public health division, during a workshop Tuesday for harvesters, seafood dealers, regulators and researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay.

“The risk is high; you never get 100 percent back” from a recall, Kanwit said. “It is really costly for the industry and bad all around.”

This year, the department isn’t taking any chances as it monitors for pseudo-nitzschia, a single-cell organism that can bloom unexpectedly and make domoic acid, a dangerous biotoxin that may cause amnesic shellfish poisoning, or ASP, in humans and animals. In serious cases, ASP can lead to memory loss, brain damage or even death. The first recorded ASP event, on Prince Edward Island in 1987, killed three people and made at least 100 sick.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine plans swifter protocols for shellfish monitoring

November 13, 2017 — No one knows the origin of an algae bloom that closed hundreds of miles of Maine coastline to shellfish harvesting this fall. Or why the microscopic phytoplankton responsible for it suddenly became so bountiful in the Gulf of Maine. Or even why it produces toxins in the first place.

What is known is that a toxic bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia, a common phytoplankton, caused a recall of 58,500 pounds of blue mussels in September – only the second shellfish recall in Maine’s modern history. To prevent another recall, the state is drastically reassessing its shellfish monitoring practices.

“I’m frustrated we had another recall this year,” said Kohl Kanwit, director of public health for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. A similar Pseudo-nitzschia bloom in 2016 forced a recall and closed a third of the state’s 3,500-mile coastline to harvesting.

“I was confident we were going to be ahead of it. We knew a lot more, we were quicker to react to it, but we weren’t accounting for the fact that in less than a week toxins could go from barely detectable to over the (safety) limit.”

Next year, even a hint of toxic Pseudo-nitzschia in the water will trigger broad precautionary closures until the department knows shellfish are safe, an entirely new approach to biotoxin management, Kanwit said.

Read the full story at Central Maine

Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund Grant Strengthens Public Health Protection, Opportunity for Shellfish Industry

December 2, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

A $32,000 grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund has strengthened Maine Department of Marine Resources’ ability to protect public health and preserve opportunity for Maine’s shellfish industry.

The funds will allow the department to purchase equipment to test for domoic acid, a naturally-occurring biotoxin that can cause serious health risks including amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). The equipment will be purchased and DMR staff trained during the upcoming winter months.

While phytoplankton species that cause domoic acid have been detected in Maine waters for years, 2016 was the first year the biotoxin was found in concentrations that could cause adverse health impacts.

Levels of domoic acid detected by DMR’s biotoxin monitoring program in September triggered closures of shellfish harvesting areas between Bar Harbor and the Canadian Border. The event lasted until mid-November when the final closed area was re-opened.

The process of testing for domoic acid involves routine phytoplankton sampling at established sites along the Maine coast throughout the year. The samples are analyzed under a microscope by DMR staff and trained volunteers. If cell counts of the phytoplankton, known as Pseudo-nitzschia, in the water samples reach established levels, a test known as the Scotia Rapid test is conducted to determine if domoic acid is present.

If test results are positive, shellfish sampling in the vicinity begins and shellfish samples are sent to Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences for further confirmation using a method known as high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).

If the concentration of biotoxin in the samples reaches a level established by FDA as a baseline for regulatory action, 20 parts per million in the case of domoic acid, the area associated with the toxic shellfish is immediately closed.

“Our partnership with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences continues to be invaluable,” said Maine DMR Public Health Bureau Director Kohl Kanwit. “We began working with Bigelow Bigelow Laboratory in 2014 to implement HPLC testing for red tide. As a result Maine was the first state in the nation to transition from using mice to test for biotoxins to the more precise HPLC method, which uses chemical analysis instead of live animals,” said Kanwit.

“By transitioning the biotoxin monitoring program to HPLC, DMR is able to respond more effectively to emerging biotoxin threats such as ASP.”

Before HPLC testing was available, the department had no way to test for domoic acid. Instead, notification of possible ASP contamination came to the department from health officials dealing with a potential ASP illness. FDA then tested samples, which could take up to ten days, during which large sections of the Maine coast were closed until results were returned.

In 2012, approximately 50,000 acres of shellfish harvest area on the Maine coast were closed as a precaution for nine days while FDA results were pending. Test results ultimately indicated there were no levels of concern and the areas were reopened.

“HPLC testing by Bigelow Lab was a major improvement for us and for industry,” said Bryant Lewis, the DMR Biologist who wrote the grant and will oversee the project. “The new equipment, which will be housed at the DMR lab in Boothbay Harbor, will further strengthen our ability to deal with this emerging biotoxin.”

Shellfish samples collected as part of the department’s routine biotoxin monitoring program will still go to Bigelow Laboratory for analysis of paralytic shellfish poisoning and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.

However, samples from areas that are shown by DMR testing to have high Pseudo-nitzschia cell counts and to be positive for domoic acid can be tested immediately with the new DMR equipment. This eliminates the potential need for precautionary closures while waiting for test results from the lab.

“Our partnership with the Bigelow Laboratory enabled us to effectively monitor and manage the ASP event this summer and we will continue to partner with them for routine monitoring,” said Lewis. “This new equipment will improve Maine’s capacity to make rapid, scientifically sound management decisions that protect the health of Maine shellfish consumers while preserving opportunity for Maine’s shellfish industry.”