For decades, HABs have been studied in relative isolation on both sides of the Atlantic. National and regional programs such as EUROHAB in Europe, and ECOHAB in the US have been launched to focus coordinated research, technologies, and shared resources on HABs, but these efforts have not included significant international collaboration.
In recognition of the importance of scientific exchange among nations, the European Commission (EC) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) signed an agreement in October 2001 to foster collaboration, with HABs identified as one of several topics of common interest. The EC Environment and Sustainable Development Programme and the US NSF jointly funded a workshop in Trieste, Italy, in September 2002, to bring together scientists from both sides of the Atlantic to collectively assess the state of HAB science, to identify gaps in our knowledge, and to develop an international plan for cooperative, comparative studies. The workshop report, now available to be downloaded, outlines the rationale for this program.
Contact info: Pat Glibert at glibert@hpl.umces.edu.
The EU-US Scientific Initiative on Harmful Algal Blooms
Download the PDF file here (904 Kb).