On August 29, researchers at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) published an analysis of NOAA Mussel Watch Program contaminant monitoring data for mercury and methylmercury levels and distributions around the Gulf of Mexico. Data gathered from oyster and sediment samples from Texas to Florida revealed relatively elevated mercury concentrations (hotspots) in the [...]
A series of workshops were held April 25-27, 2012 in Sitka, Alaska to inform shellfish growers, high school teachers and representatives of the Sitka Tribe for the purpose of expanding the existing Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Partnership. The partnership is a collaborative project with the NOAA Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN), NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center, [...]
Historically, Kodiak Island has not routinely monitored for HABs but has the greatest number of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) cases in the United States. PSP is caused by the algae Alexandrium and is potentially fatal to humans. The NCCOS Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN) partnered with the Kodiak Island Borough School District, Kodiak Island remote community [...]
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation recently hosted a meeting in Albany, NY that brought together potential federal partners to discuss NY’s Great Lakes current efforts and ways forward to remove Beneficial Use Impairments and monitor the recovery of Areas of Concern (hot spots). NCCOS scientists shared with NY State AOC coordinators and managers its past, current [...]
Representatives from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science met with the Federal-State Areas of Concern Coordinating Committee (FEDSTACC), a group of regional stakeholders from across the Great Lakes basin, to discuss the common goals of removing EPA-designated Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) from designated sites and monitoring the recovery of EPA-designated Areas of Concern (AOCs), areas defined by [...]
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)-based HAB sensor currently under development is being targeted for integration within the rapidly emerging IOOS infrastructure. This sensor will provide data to forecasting models, enabling more accurate prediction of HABs and mitigation of their effects on humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. Transitioning HAB detection technology currently used on the stationary autonomous, [...]
While climate change is often associated with global warming and rising seawater temperatures, there are other climate-related anomalies that can adversely affect marine life. From February 27 to May 26, 2011, 37 bottlenose dolphins were found dead on South Carolina beaches primarily in the central and southern sections of the state. This level of mortality [...]
Research conducted by scientists at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s (NCCOS) will be published as a chapter in, Quagga and Zebra Mussels: Biology, Impacts, and Control, Second Edition, edited by Thomas Nalepa (NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory). The book will include over 30 chapters dealing with ecological consequences of dreissenid mussels in [...]