Researchers Aim to Predict Toxic Algal Blooms in California's Coastal Waters
Researcher:
Raphael Kudela
UC Santa Cruz
E.: kudela@ucsc.edu
T.: 831-459-3290
Relevant Links:
Tools:
Revised:
July 20, 2010
The sachets contain resin beads that absorb algal toxins. Credit: M. Roddam/UCSC
July 20, 2010
Contact: Tim Stephens, (831) 459-2495, stephens@ucsc.edu, or
Christina S. Johnson, (858) 822-5334, csjohnson@ucsd.edu,
SANTA CRUZ, CA – After years of studying and monitoring harmful algal blooms in California's coastal waters, a team of researchers will begin developing tools for predicting when toxin-producing algae will strike again.
UC Santa Cruz ocean sciences professor Raphael Kudela is leading the project, recently awarded a $720,000 grant from the Ocean Protection Council and NOAA’s California Sea Grant.
The first forecasts will be for the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia, which produces domoic acid, the neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning. During "blooms,” domoic acid builds up in shellfish and small fishes such as anchovies and sardines. Although state monitoring programs and quarantines protect consumers from tainted seafood, seabirds and marine mammals are often poisoned and sometimes suffer massive die-offs during extreme, prolonged blooms.
UC Santa Cruz researchers and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) have built a computer model for predicting environmental conditions in Monterey Bay favorable to Pseudo-nitzschia. A similar model exists for coastal waters off Santa Barbara.
"We are at the point now where we'd like to take these research projects and turn them into something that's useful for the state and the public," Kudela explained. "We aim to develop a web-based tool to provide real-time updates for state agencies and wildlife managers. It will give them a heads up so they know what to expect and how to prioritize their monitoring efforts."
Raphael Kudela, ocean sciences professor at UC Santa Cruz. Credit: T. Stevens/UCSC
Kudela's team plans to expand the existing models to include the entire California coast and develop predictive capabilities for the algae responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning. The team includes scientists at CDPH, UCLA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Southern California, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP), and Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS).
An unusual event this winter underscored the potential benefits of computer modeling of harmful algal blooms, Kudela said. The annual quarantine on recreational shellfish harvesting had just been lifted when the model for Monterey Bay indicated a new episode of domoic acid production.
"Right after the annual closure was lifted, the model actually picked up an unusual event where the mussels got toxic again,” Kudela said. “We alerted the state and they closed harvesting again. So that's where we're headed, and ultimately we'll have a web site where you can go and get that kind of information.”
This summer, perhaps due to El Niño conditions, both Monterey Bay and the Santa Barbara area have experienced an unusually prolonged bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia. "We've had a domoic acid event going on for almost two months now,” Kudela said. “Toxin levels got very high in Santa Barbara a few weeks ago, well over the regulatory limit, and it is affecting sea lions and possibly otters as well.”
“Santa Barbara has become a real hot spot and it never used to be,” he said. “So the patterns are shifting, and we are seeing bigger blooms, blooms at unusual times of the year, and in places we haven't seen them before."
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