Saving Seafood

Researchers Study the Effects of Harmful Algal Blooms

December 1, 2021 — The sample bottle came back from the river, over the gunwale, and into the boat. The water sample was a dark reddish-brown, like strong, steeped tea that you are unable to see through. Literally tens of thousands of algal cells made up every drop of the water sample. Back at the laboratory, scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) will analyze the sample to determine the type and density of algal species in the water. The samples, taken from the York River in the Southern Chesapeake Bay allow scientists to study harmful algal blooms, also called HABs. According to NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science, almost every state in the nation now experiences some kind of HAB event. The number of hypoxic water bodies in the United States has increased 30 fold since the 1960s, with more than 300 coastal systems now impacted.

As you might guess from the name, the tiny microscopic organisms making up HABs are algae, which are a very diverse group of organisms. Phytoplankton are a type of algae usually responsible for creating blooms. Most often, these phytoplankton are made up of an equally diverse group of organisms known as dinoflagellates, which can be found in both fresh and marine waters.

Blooms Occur Worldwide

HABs are a growing concern worldwide, occurring in the Gulf of Mexico and surprising places such as the Alaskan Arctic. Globally warming water temperatures, a result of our changing climate, is one reason blooms are occurring more frequently and over a global scale.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Awards $1.7 Million for Habitat Connectivity Research to Support National Marine Sanctuaries

October 14, 2021 — From a bird’s eye view, the ocean appears to be an endless expanse of blue. Though, if you peek below the surface, the water column and seafloor reveal an active place made up of varying ecosystems that consist of a myriad of organisms and habitats.

Understanding how these different habitats are connected to each other and how fishes, marine mammals, seabirds, and sea turtles use them is the focus of three newly funded projects in Florida Keys, Flower Garden Banks, and Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuaries. This month, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science is announcing $1.7 million of an anticipated $5.9 million in funding for research to support the management of national marine sanctuaries.

This newly funded research will focus on how different species are using habitats within marine protected areas (MPAs) by tagging and tracking key species using telemetry in each sanctuary. Scientists and resource managers will use this information to determine if the protected area is working well to support that particular species, and inform future management decisions.

Read the full story at ECO Magazine

 

How much is a clam worth to a coastal community?

February 25, 2021 — Researchers have developed a method to estimate the value of oyster and clam aquaculture to nitrogen reduction in a coastal community. Nitrogen is a nutrient that comes from many different sources, including agriculture, fertilizers, septic systems, and treated wastewater. In excess it fuels algal growth, which can affect water quality and human health.

As a result, a growing number of communities are required to follow regulations to reduce the amount of nitrogen they release. Shellfish are an option that can be a valuable part of a community’s nutrient management plan.

In a study in Environmental Science & Technology,  biologists, economists, and modelers from NOAA Fisheries, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, and Stony Brook University used a transferable replacement cost methodology to estimate the value of oyster and clam aquaculture to nitrogen reduction in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Growing bivalve shellfish, including oysters and clams, provides direct economic benefits to a community by supporting jobs and making fresh local seafood available to consumers. It also provides ecosystem services—benefits that nature provides to people—including habitat for native species and improved water quality.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

WHOI receives NOAA awards to study, predict harmful algal blooms

October 7, 2020 — The following was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:

Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were recently named in a list of 17 new research projects funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve the nation’s collective response to the growing problem of harmful algal blooms (HABs). The four projects led, co-led, or supported by WHOI researchers total nearly $2.5 million over the coming year and $7.9 million over the course of the projects. A full list of the new grant awards is available online and includes projects funded under NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and the  U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOSⓇ) Office.

“NOAA is funding the latest scientific research to support managers trying to cope with increasing and recurring toxic algae that continue to affect environmental and human health of coastal communities,” said David Kidwell, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Competitive Research Program. “These projects will address the largely unknown socioeconomic impact of blooms in various regions, improve local managers’ ability to keep drinking water safe, aid monitoring for algal toxins in seafood and advance a potentially valuable control method for Florida red tide and other blooms, enhancing our nation’s collective response to these events.”

Marine and fresh waters teem with life, much of it microscopic, and most of it harmless. Although most of these phytoplankton and cyanobacteria are harmless, there are some that create potent toxins and, under the right conditions, both toxic and non-toxic species can form blooms that threaten the health of humans and ecosystems, and cause significant societal and economic problems.

These impacts include human illness and death following consumption of or indirect exposure to HAB toxins, economic losses to coastal communities and commercial fisheries, and HAB-associated wildlife deaths. Freshwater HABs can also affect drinking water supplies far from the ocean and are a growing problem as water temperatures rise, precipitation patterns change, and the use of agricultural fertilizers becomes more widespread.

Read the full release here

NOAA backs new national effort to predict, respond to algae blooms

October 22, 2019 — Harmful algae blooms that shut down fisheries and sicken people are the target of new research funding from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) across the nation.

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will spend USD 10.2 million (EUR 9.2 million) in fiscal year 2019 to fund studies into harmful algae blooms – by now so common that they have their own shorthand name of HAB.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New national effort to predict, respond to algae blooms

October 16, 2019 — Harmful algae blooms that shut down fisheries and sicken people are the target of new research funding from NOAA across the nation.

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will spend $10.2 million in fiscal year 2019 to fund studies into harmful algae blooms – by now so common that they have their own shorthand name of HAB.

About $8.4 million of that will cover the first year of new 3- to 5-year projects, and $1.78 million will go to 3-year projects already in process. Funded under existing NOAA programs, new projects will begin in Alaska, California, Chesapeake Bay, Florida, the Great Lakes, New England and the Pacific Northwest.

Florida is in line for $2.9 million of that funding, which could help state planners now scrambling to improve how monitor and manage algae outbreaks. The state was hit with severe events from 2017 to 2019 when Karenia brevis, also known as red tide, occurred throughout southwest Florida. The bloom killed fish, turtles, marine mammals, and birds. It caused cases of neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in people, and even respiratory irritation in beachgoers and waterfront residents exposed to the algae.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Awards WHOI $2.9 Million for Harmful Algal Bloom Research

October 9, 2019 — NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) recently announced funding for 12 new research projects around the country to better understand and predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) and improve our collective response to them.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will receive approximately $2.9 million over the next five years for studies of HABs in New England coastal waters, which have long been impacted by Alexandrium—a species that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. While Alexandrium blooms can cause shellfish closures throughout the spring and summer, additional HAB species that produce different toxins are becoming more common in the Gulf of Maine, resulting in nearly year-round HAB threats to aquaculture, fisheries, and tourism in the region.

“We’ll be deploying a network of advanced technologies that detect both Alexandrium and emergent HAB species in the region like Pseudo-nitzschia and Dinophysis, species that cause amnesic shellfish poisoning and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning syndromes,” says Mike Brosnahan, WHOI assistant scientist and principal investigator on the project. “The project team will also develop an open system for sharing these data and other products among managers and stakeholders in real time so that they can better protect seafood resources and human health.”

Read the full story at Eco Magazine

NOAA awards $10.2 million for harmful algal bloom research

October 2, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA will fund 12 new research projects around the country to better understand and predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) and improve our collective response to them.

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is allocating $10.2 million in FY 2019 to fund HAB research across the nation. Approximately $8.4 million of that will cover the first year of new 3- to 5-year projects, and $1.78 million will go to 3-year projects already in process. Funded under NOAA’s ECOHAB and MERHAB programs, new projects will begin in Alaska, California, Chesapeake Bay, Florida, the Great Lakes, New England and the Pacific Northwest. A full list of the new grant awards is available online.

Award recipients will conduct research to identify conditions that increase bloom toxicity; model toxin movement from the water into shellfish, fish and marine mammals; and improve toxin monitoring and forecasts. NCCOS research programs help states and regions around the nation mitigate the effects of HABs, which can include contaminated drinking water, fisheries closures and disruption to recreation and tourism.

Read the full release here

Shipwrecks may help tropical fish adapt to climate change

May 10, 2019 — When Chris Taylor presses play, footage of blue wrasse and greater amberjack fills the screen. The fish whirl and spin against a vivid backdrop of corals, sponges, and algae. When Taylor, an ecologist at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Beaufort, North Carolina, asks visitors to the Centers where they think the video was taken, he’s not surprised to hear the Florida Keys or the Caribbean. But the guesses are invariably wrong.

“These highly structured reefs are right off our coast,” Taylor says. “There are all of these brightly colored fishes that defy expectations.”

A new study in Nature Communications Biology by Taylor and Avery Paxton, a marine ecologist who divides her time between NOAA and the Duke University Marine Laboratory, shows artificial deepwater reefs off the coast of North Carolina increased the number of tropical and subtropical fishes at the northern edge of their ranges. These findings have important implications for fishes in warming waters. As ocean temperatures rise, artificial reefs may facilitate the movement of these species towards the poles, where they may be able to find a habitat that is more suitable in the future.

Read the full story at National Geographic

NOAA Awards $1.7M For Harmful Algal Bloom Research To Protect Public Health From Toxins In Shellfish

Multi-year awards to focus on bloom prevention in seven states

September 20, 2017 — NOAA has announced nine research grants will go to organizations around the country seeking to better understand and measure the toxicity of harmful algal blooms, known as HABs.

In the first year, $1.68M will fund research for projects in Alaska, California, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Ohio and Virginia. The grants are administered by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.

NOAA funding enhances state and regional monitoring with advanced harmful algae detection capabilities, including shellfish toxin tests. (Credit: Washington State Department of Ecology Marine Monitoring Unit)

Grant recipients will conduct research to identify conditions that increase a bloom’s toxicity; model toxin movement from the water into shellfish, fish and marine mammals; and improve toxin monitoring and forecasts. The dense scum, strong odors and toxins produced by HABs can contaminate drinking water, trigger fisheries closures and disrupt tourism.

Read the full story at Water Online