Harmful Algae & Red Tides
A Tiny Camera Could Help Shellfish Farmers Avoid Big Losses
Cape Cod’s shellfish farmers face many challenges, and one of the biggest is dealing with harmful algal blooms, which can damage shellfish and be poisonous for humans to ingest. But a new project at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is looking at a way to better manage this with the help of a tiny camera.
Toxic Algal Blooms Are Worsening with Climate Change
“Cyanobacteria grow quite well—better than almost everything else in those freshwater systems—the hotter it gets,” said Don Anderson, a senior scientist at WHOI.
Why are birds and seals starving in a Bering Sea full of fish?
Federal and university scientists are trying to better understand why some birds and marine mammals have been unable to find enough food, and whether toxic algae blooms — increasing as the water warms — could have contributed or caused some of the die-offs.
A Lagrangian View of Spring Phytoplankton Blooms
Shin Kida, Kyushu University Sponsored by: Physical Oceanography Department
Read MoreNOAA awards WHOI $2.9 million for harmful algal bloom research
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently announced funding for 12 new research projects to better understand and predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) and improve our collective response to them.
Read MoreEverything you need to know about toxic algae blooms
The type of toxin released depends on the species causing the bloom. Some of the most common ones affect the liver or the nervous system, said Donald Anderson, director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms and a senior scientist at WHOI.
Watch What You Eat
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) can take a variety of forms, each with a distinct and disturbing impact on human health.…
Read MoreHarmful Algae & Red Tides
Tiny plants pose a potent threat to those who live in and eat from the sea.
Read MoreWHOI gets $6.9M grant to study red tide
quotes John Stegeman, Michael Brosnahan
Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health Receives Five-year Funding from NSF and NIEHS
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health,…
Read MoreThe Recipe for a Harmful Algal Bloom
Harmful algal blooms can produce toxins that accumulate in shellfish and cause health problems and economic losses. They have increased in strength and frequency worldwide. Can we get advance warnings of when and where they will occur?
Read MoreWarmer Waters Linked to Higher Levels of Shellfish Toxin
mentions Judy McDowell and WHOI
Not Just Another Lovely Summer Day on the Water
It looks like nice summer day on the water, but Alexis Fischer (right) and Alice Alpert, graduate students in the…
Read MoreAs Bay Warms, Harmful Algae Bloom
Warming coastal waters off southern Massachusetts are worsening the effects of pollution from septic systems, wastewater treatment plants, and fertilizer…
Read MoreScientists: Algae not just Toledo problem
mentions WHOI
Setting a Watchman for Harmful Algal Blooms
As harmful algal blooms are becoming more frequent and severe worldwide, researchers in the lab of WHOI biologist Don Anderson are testing an array of new instruments that can be used in early-warning monitoring systems for coastal waters.
Read MoreNauset Estuary and Town Cove closed to shellfishing
mentions WHOI
Gulf of Maine red tide bloom expected to be similar to past three years
mentions WHOI
Feds: Gulf of Maine red tide will be similar to recent years
reprint of Associated Press article
also ran in: Albuquerue Journal, WABI Channel 5 and Seacoastonline.com
Gulf of Maine Red Tide Bloom Expected to Be Similar to Past Three Years
New England’s spring and summer red tides will be similar in extent to those of the past three years, according to the 2015 Gulf of Maine red tide seasonal forecast. The forecast is the eighth seasonal Gulf of Maine red tide forecast funded by NOAA and issued by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and North Carolina State University.
The forecast is part of a larger NOAA effort to deliver ecological forecasts that support human health and well-being, coastal economies, and coastal and marine stewardship.
Red tide, a type of harmful algal bloom (HAB) caused by the alga Alexandrium fundyense, produces a toxin that can lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can result in serious or even fatal illness in humans who eat contaminated shellfish. In 2005, an unusually large red tide event caused $23 million in lost shellfish sales in Massachusetts and Maine.
Read MoreRed tide bloom off Gulf of Maine likely to be unchanged
mentions WHOI
New Sensor Array to Monitor Impacts of Changing Gulf of Maine Conditions on New England Red Tide
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are kicking off an innovative NOAA-funded pilot program using robotic instruments and computer modeling analysis to shed light on changing ocean conditions in the Gulf of Maine as they relate to the harmful algal bloom (HAB) phenomenon commonly known as the New England red tide.
Read MoreDropping a Laboratory into the Sea
Scientists at WHOI deploy moored robotic laboratories in the Gulf of Maine for long-term monitoring of red tide algae
Read MoreNew Robotic Instruments to Provide Real-Time Data on Gulf of Maine Red Tide
A new robotic sensor deployed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Gulf of Maine coastal waters may transform the…
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