NOAA AWARDS WHOI $7.5 MILLION OVER FIVE YEARS TO EXTEND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM MODELS & FORECASTS TO NEW AREAS OF THE GULF OF MAINE

Oct. 18, 2006 — NOAA awarded the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution $1,377,826 for the first year of funding of a $7.5 million, five-year grant, to extend harmful algal bloom observation and modeling programs to new areas of the Gulf of Maine. The research aims to help managers, regulators and the shellfish industry fully utilize and effectively manage both nearshore and offshore shellfish resources. (Click NOAA image for larger view of the latest major harmful algal bloom-related events in the coastal United States. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The grant, from the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, or ECOHAB, program, managed by the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, will support research, conducted by scientists from WHOI and seven other universities and agencies, to establish a comprehensive regional-scale understanding of red tide (Alexandrium fundyense) dynamics, transport and associated shellfish toxicity. The new research effort extends past studies in the Gulf of Maine and builds on data collected during the historic 2005 red tide, which led to closure of both nearshore shellfish beds and offshore beds in federal and state waters out to Georges Bank. The toxicity extended for the first time to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

“Shellfish resources in the Gulf of Maine are an extremely important component of the regional economy. Large areas have been permanently closed and other areas temporarily closed to shellfish harvesting. This new observation, modeling and prediction program is critical for equipping managers with tools needed to exploit these resources despite the repeated threat of Alexandrium fundyense in the region,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA's partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will help provide a more thorough understanding than is currently available.” (Click NOAA image for larger view of paralytic shellfish poisoning events in the USA from 1995 to 2004. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The Gulf of Maine and its adjacent southern New England shelf is a vast region with extensive shellfish resources, large portions of which are frequently contaminated with paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins produced by the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense. Locally, this harmful algal bloom phenomenon is often called the “red tide.” Offshore shellfish resources with estimated annual values of more than $50 million have been closed due to these toxins since 1990. The 2005 outbreak caused millions of dollars in economic damage, but due to monitoring programs and cooperation among federal, state and local officials, scientists, and shellfish harvesters, no cases of illness from contaminated shellfish were reported.

“We don’t understand the linkages between bloom dynamics and toxicity in waters near shore versus the offshore, nor do we know how toxicity is delivered to the shellfish in those offshore waters,” said lead WHOI investigator Don Anderson. “As a result of the 2005 bloom and the closures in waters offshore and on the Cape and Islands, we realized we needed to expand efforts and develop a full, regional-scale understanding of Alexandrium fundyense. An additional challenge is the need to expand modeling and forecasting capabilities to include the entire region, and to transition these tools to operational and management use.”

NOAA supports research to understand how, when and why blooms occur through its Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algae Blooms, or ECOHAB, program in order to develop better methods of detecting and predicting blooms, and to find ways to reduce or prevent impacts on humans, coastal economies and ecosystems.

In fiscal year 2006, the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research provided approximately $10 million in competitive grants to institutions of higher education, state, local and tribal governments, and other non-profit research institutions to advance the understanding of major national coastal management issues. NOAA-sponsored competitive research programs, such as ECOHAB, demonstrate NOAA's commitment to its historic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 35 years.

In 2007 NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation. Starting with the establishment of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. The agency is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB)

NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research

Media Contact:
Ben Sherman, NOAA Ocean Service, (301) 713-3066 ext. 178