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ECOHAB-funded GOMTOX Survey Results Prompt NOAA Warning to Fisherman near Georges Bank in the Gulf of Maine (July 2007)
As part of the CSCOR ECOHAB GOMTOX project in the Gulf of Maine, surveys aboard the R/V Endeavor in May and June found a significant harmful algal bloom (HAB) of Alexandrium fundyense in the vicinity of Georges Bank. Abundance of Alexandrium fundyense, also known as New England Red Tide, was greater than 1000 cells per liter in some locations on Georges Bank. These results coincided with the issuance of a Federal Register Notice and letter to Federal permit holders extending the closure of commercial shellfish harvesting in Federal waters and led to a NOAA Fisheries Service warning to fishermen not to eat shellfish taken as bycatch in the Georges Bank area to protect humans from paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) (to see the Federal Register Notice, a map of closure area and letters to permit holders, see http://www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/hotnews/redtide/).
Inshore shellfish beds in some areas of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire are still closed due to this year’s Alexandrium bloom, but some areas have begun to reopen. For updates on status of shellfish closures, visit state websites: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
More Information about Alexandrium Research and Past Events in the Northeast
- GOMTOX: ECOHAB-funded research to look at the dynamics of Alexandrium fundyense distributions in the Gulf of Maine. GOMTOX is an observational and modeling study of nearshore and offshore shellfish toxicity, vertical toxin flux, and bloom dynamics in a complex shelf sea. http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=13193
- WHOI’s Northeast PSP Webpage: New England Harmful Algal Bloom / Red Tide information. http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=3230
- NOAA CSCOR’s ECOHAB, MERHAB, and Event Response Programs
- CSCOR Past Webpages on New England Red Tide in 2006 and 2005
For Up-To-Date Information on Shellfish Closures, Consult the Following Web Sites: