NOAA awards funds to improve toxic algal bloom predictions in the Western Gulf...( NOAA is awarding $178358 for the fir...)

NOAA is awarding $178,358 for the first year of a project to improve predictions of toxic algal blooms in the western Gulf of Mexico as part of an evolving national ecological forecasting capability. NOAA anticipates a nearly $1 million investment in this large-scale regional project over the next four years. The project is funded by the interagency Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms, or ECOHAB, program.

Funded partners in this project include Texas A&M University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment.

The toxin producing the alga Karenia brevis is the most prevalent harmful algal bloom, or HAB, species in the Gulf of Mexico. K. brevis blooms have significant impacts on human health, and cause mass mortality of fish and protected species, such as manatees, dolphins and turtles, which have major economic ramifications.

"This project meets a critical need in the Gulf, and is specifically targeted in our Gulf of Mexico Governor's Alliance Action Plan," said William Walker, Ph.D., executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and chair of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Management Team. "The Gulf Alliance aims to ensure that coastal managers from all the Gulf states and Mexico are made aware of these HAB predictions that will help to protect the health and economies of coastal communities."

In 2000, a K. brevis outbreak in Texas waters caused widespread fish kills and shellfish harvest closures to protect human consumers from neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. Estimated economic impacts were $9.9 million in Galveston County alone due to commercial oyster fishery closures, lost tourism and costs of beach cleanup.

"Presently there is no model for bloom prediction in Texas. A major goal of this project is the development of new approaches for the detection, monitoring, prediction, control, and mitigation of harmful algae and their impacts
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