Harmful Algae & Red Tides
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
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
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
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
Gulf of Maine red tide bloom expected to be similar to past three years
Feds: Gulf of Maine red tide will be similar to recent years
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.
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