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.”