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NOAA Responds to Texas City Acid Spill
NOS Researchers Help Tribe Test Shellfish The Quileute Tribe in La Push, WA, is working with NOS and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to develop rapid, cost-effective techniques to detect domoic acid in shellfish. Tribal nations along the Pacific Coast from Oregon to Alaska occupy some of the regions most affected by domoic-acid-producing algae. Blown onshore by winds, these harmful algal blooms (genus Pseudo-nitzchia) can produce high levels of the acid, which accumulates to lethal levels in commercial species such as razor clams and Dungeness crabs. Tribal members depend on clams and crabs for part of their diets, for use in ritual ceremonies, and as an economically important cash crop. However, the remoteness of the tribes villages and state budgetary constraints prohibit state officials from taking routine samples to test for the acid. In addition, the tests are expensive and must be conducted in laboratories nowhere near the tribes. NOS's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, and the NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center conducted a recent workshop with the Quileute Tribe. They reviewed progress in the areas of test development, standardized assay procedures, and future sampling efforts. For more information, contact Wayne Litaker. NOS Partnership Project in AL and MS On November 4, NOS's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) and Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) hosted a meeting at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to launch an NOS Partnership Project titled "Application of Water Level Information to Coastal Zone Management." NOS will install and maintain two tide gauges in Alabama and Mississippi at locations chosen by state coastal resource managers to showcase the use of water-level information for such purposes as habitat restoration, wetland mitigation, measurement of land subsidence, and boundary delineation. Data from the gauges will be collected for one year, and the information will be used to support state coastal management decision-making. The results will be disseminated to coastal managers nationwide. For more information, contact Josh Lott. Texas Teachers Recognize Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary At the recent annual Texas Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching, held in Houston, TX, the Texas Marine Educators Association recognized Sarah Bernhardt, an education specialist at NOSs Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, for "Outstanding Marine Education by a Non-classroom Educator. Sanctuary education coordinator Shelley DuPuy and the sanctuary itself were recognized for "Outstanding Marine Education by an Organization." For more information, contact George Schmahl. |
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