Not many people have heard of algal blooms, but researchers have proved them to be hazardous to your health. The incidences of these blooms, which come from phytoplankton, are increasing, calling for a parallel increase in monitoring of their growth.
According to Matt Hunter, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shellfish and estuary project planner, monitoring is being done to help predict the harmful algal blooms.
From 11 sites up and down the Oregon coast, water samples are collected once a week to test for the phytoplankton that produces these harmful algal blooms. This provides a broader spectrum of testing than research done previous to this project.
Phytoplankton is a microscopic plant that exists in water and produces much of the world’s oxygen. An algal bloom is a normal part of the life cycle of the phytoplankton.
Some of the algae produced by phytoplankton, while not harmful to cold-blooded creatures such as fish, are toxic to humans. The algae produced can be absorbed into the tissues of shellfish that humans then eat, which can result in domoic acid poisoning or other life-threatening effects.
The main goal of the conducted research is to predict the outbreaks of harmful algal blooms. Prediction of these events is important because there is no way to tell if the shellfish have been poisoned or not, and commercial fishers of shellfish are forced to throw away their catches.
There is another threat for recreational shellfish fishers who may be unaware of the dangers, because they could unknowingly expose themselves to the poisons.
“What we’re trying to do is form predictive models to be able to predict outbreaks of harmful algal blooms,” said Angel White, OSU biological oceanographer. “To do that we’re collecting a whole range of satellite data and phytoplankton samples so we can evaluate how much toxicity is in those water samples.”
The chlorophyll created by phytoplankton, the sea surface temperature and current speed can all be seen from space and can give an idea of the physical conditions needed for an algal bloom. By monitoring the physical conditions needed, they can be predicted.
The funding for the program comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, based in Silver Springs, Md.
The NOAA holds contests for programs to win grants that allow them to form programs to monitor and eventually predict algal blooms. The program submitted by Oregon won a $2.3 million grant.
Marc Suddleston, who manages the monitoring and event response for the harmful algal bloom research program from NOAA, is in charge of the funding of the program in Oregon, and said the funding is a five-year grant of $2.3 million paid out to OSU, U of O and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The grant is aimed to do research on the effects of algal blooms on fisheries. The NOAA funded a similar program in Washington that now runs entirely on state funds, which Suddleston hopes will happen here. “The biggest challenge is often convincing the key decision makers that what you have, this enhanced effort, is worth having,” Suddleston said.
However, funding for the program is now in jeopardy. The grant is predicted to run out soon, leaving the state of Oregon to take over. Less than one percent of Oregon’s budget would be needed for the program to continue.
Both California and Washington are funding similar programs and have had these programs for a longer period of time. If research on algal blooms could be completed, harmful blooms could be predicted days or even weeks ahead.