May 9, 2014 - ESP Update     Print

Hab assays just started on all 3 ESPs, but those results will not be available until late this afternoon, so I just wanted to provide this update before the weekend. 

All 3 ESPs continued to run hab assays during the week...but we have not been able to remotely fix the stx issue reported on ESP-2 (jake) in Casco Bay. 

At this time, ESP-1 with ESPdon onboard deployed near NERACOOS B is the only ESP showing consistent spots with derived values above 100 cells/Liter, just above the ESP lower limit of detection. 

The initial ESP results from week 1 agree with reports from ME, NH, and MA that indicate little to no shellfish toxicity to date in the western Gulf of Maine. However, Chris Nash (NH) recently reported 3 mice killed near the Isle of Shoals...ESP-1 is located about 15nm north of their Star Island collection site. The results also agree with the presence of very low population of A. fundyense observed at ESP-1 and ESP-2 during deployment.

To save resources and stretch the mission into late June, the ESP's will generally not be sampling over the weekends. 

Bruce Keafer (Research Associate in the Anderson lab)
Laboratory for Ocean Sensors and Observing Systems (LOSOS)