In memory of Paul Harrison With great sorrow, we learned of the recent unexpected passing of our col- league, mentor and friend Paul J. Har- rison. Among his many contributions, Paul was a founding member of the Sci- entific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) working Group 137 SCOR WG 137 Global Patterns of Phytoplank- ton Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems: Comparative Analysis of Time Series Observations and the recently-formed IOC Working Group to Investigate Climate Change and Global Trends of Phytoplankton in the Oceans (IOC WG TrendsPO). Few people have had a larger impact on the oceanographic community than Paul. He was excep- tional through his contributions as a scientist, and his ability to motivate others. Paul had a rich life that included a deep commitment to family, and the people he worked with. He also loved to share his excitement and knowledge of the oceans and never missed an op- portunity to include family when pos- sible. He was doing both this past De- cember, giving natural history lectures to passengers on a Caribbean cruise, accompanied by members of his family. Unexpectedly, he became very ill while on board and passed away due to com- plications associated with influenza. Paul grew up on a 300-acre farm and attended a one-room schoolhouse near the town of Uxbridge, northeast of To- ronto. He had a passion for plants, and after completing a Bachelors degree at the University of Toronto, he went on to do a Masters degree in plant ecology at the University of Guelph. While attend- ing university in Toronto, he met Victo- ria; they were soon married and over the next 51 years embarked on many adventures together. The first big ad- venture was after Paul graduated from the University of Guelph. They signed up with CUSO (Canadian University Students Overseas) and headed off to Ghana on a two-year teaching contract. They used this opportunity to travel the Nile, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and travel throughout East and West Af- rica. It was also here that they charted a course for the future that included pursing a PhD in oceanography with Dick Dugdale at the University of Wash- ington. 20 Paul and Victoria Harrison. Photo from Rachel Harrison Paul entered graduate school in 1967 and was soon interrogating phy- toplankton and exploring their physi- ological response to varying nutrient supplies. This work led to a series of seminal papers on the nutrient physi- ology of diatoms and was the stimulus that led Paul to begin his lifelong pur- suit of understanding phytoplankton growth, their population dynamics and their central role in ocean ecosystems. Most of Pauls career was at the Uni- versity of British Columbia, where he began a faculty position in the Institute of Oceanography and the Department of Botany in 1975. He rapidly built an internationally recognized program in biological oceanography that attracted trainees from far and wide. Two of us (Curtis Suttle and Kedong Yin) were among the early students in Pauls lab, but there were many others in those beginning days, including Dave Turpin (President of the University of Alberta), Charlie Trick (University of Western Ontario), Neil Price (McGill Universi- ty), Peter Thompson and John Parslow (CSIRO, Tasmania), Bill Cochlan (Uni- versity of San Francisco), Greg Douc- ette (NOAA), Lee Jackson (University of Calgary) and Maurice Levasseur (Laval University); others that went on to pro- ductive non-academic careers ranging from medicine to environmental con- sulting. The students and post-docs kept coming to learn from the guru of phytoplankton, and over the years 45 graduate students, 15 postdoctoral scholars and countless undergraduates trained with him. Many of these peo- ple, too many to list here, went on to be leaders in academia, government and industry. Paul never stopped mentoring and inspiring those around him. Very appropriately and deservedly, he was honored as the inaugural recipient of UBCs graduate teaching award in 1992. Pauls scientific contributions in- clude over 300 refereed scientific pa- pers, and he is one of the most cited authors in biological oceanography. His work was much broader than phy- toplankton, and he co-authored The Bible of seaweed physiology and ecol- ogy; investigated the impact of large- scale iron fertilization experiments in the North Pacific on primary productiv- ity, the impacts of pollution and nutri- ent enrichment from sewage treatment, nutrient cycling and climate change. His scholarship has attracted many honors, including being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a recipi- ent of the Timothy R. Parsons Medal. Despite all of the accolades, Paul always remained humble and well-grounded, and was always the first to put the achievements of others above his own. He was truly inspirational. He left UBC in 2002 to direct the program in Atmospheric and Marine Science at Hong Kong University of Sci- ence and Technology, and help build the reputation and the faculty associ- ated with marine science at HKUST. As well as instigating foundational re- search and inspiring researchers in Hong Kong, he cultivated the growth of biological oceanography and coastal marine science in China. His work was some of the first in the region exploring red tides, dead zones, and the role of the ocean in reducing global warming and climate change. He returned to UBC in 2010 as Pro- fessor Emeritus, and continued to be as active as ever. He published nearly 50 papers in the last five years, mentored students and junior faculty, and pro- moted the research and reputations of his trainees and colleagues. He contin- ued to organize and teach courses for advanced students and postdocs, and provide advisory and leadership roles to national and international scientific committees and government agencies as an authority on water quality and HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 56 / 2017 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 56 - March 2017 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab Is Gambierdiscus expanding its geographic range in the Pacific region? Content HAB events and toxin effects Gambierdiscus distribution in the Pacific . ................................... Table 1: Geographic occurrence and toxin production (as determined by LCMS/MS) of Gambierdiscus species in the Pacific region. Species reported in the Pacific region G. australes G. balechii G. belizeanus G. caribaeus G. carpenteri G. cheloniae G. lapillus G. pacificus G. polynesiensis G. scabrosus Fig. 2. Scanning electron micrographs of cells of Gambierdiscus sp., isolate CAWD242, from the Kermadec Islands: (A) view of cingulum and apical pore, (B) apical pore complex, (C) antapi- cal hypotheca. this will bring the number of Gambier- discus species to fifteen. A related species, originally d lished data). The role of MTXs in ciguat- era fish poisoning is uncertain and due to its low oral toxicity may only play a small part in toxic events 21. A range of cell-based assays is avail- able to detect CFP-related toxins, includ- ing receptor binding (RBA), Ca 2+ flux, N2A and haemolytic assay Toxin production in lab-rat-diatoms (e.g. Pseudo-nitzschia) in the presence of copepods From only 15 species in 1965, currently 49 Pseudo-nitzschia species have been described, of which 22 have the abil- ity to produce the toxin domoic acid (DA), along with two Nitzschia species 1. Both numbers are Apart from increasing toxin produc- tion in already toxic species/strains, presence of grazers may even induce toxin production in species previously considered non-toxic, as shown for P. obtusa 3. It is therefore relevant to consider that all Pseudo-nitzschia spe- cies might have the potential to p Ecology of Alexandrium spp. in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada 2015 Fig. 1 Citizen Science sampling stations in the Strait of Georgia, Canada in 2015. Fig. 2. Citizen Science sampling areas in the Strait of Georgia, Canada in 2015. Coastal waters of British Columbia (BC), Canada have Table 1. Number of water samples (N) collected by the Citizen Science Program, frequency of samples with Alexandrium spp. presence (Alex. +), and number of water samples with Alexan- drium spp. cells present by month, Strait of Georgia 2015 (n/a - no samples were collected). Area Ladysmith Cowichan A clarification of three unnamed raphidophytes previously described from British Columbia gated motile cell with very similar chlo- roplasts and the oval Lugol-fixed cell in Fig. 2 #3 were probably equivalent to the long cells formed by V. globosus in stationary growth (see 5 Figs. 7 & 8). Raphidoph Fig. 3. Raphidophyte 2 from a culture in 1974. Motile cell, ventral view 11.5 μm long. reproduced here at a smaller size (Fig. 4) and are interpreted (in the figure caption) by the author. Photographs of motile cells under stress received from Nicky Haigh (Mi- crothalassia) (not shown here) reveal t Autumnal algal bloom succession in northern coasts of Gulf of Oman Fig. 1. Map of the study area The composition of harmful algal blooms is determined by the diversity and abundance of different species pre- sent. Temporal fluctuations in phyto- plankton populations can lead to a suc- cession of dif Table 1. Maximal mean density of the observed bloom species and physical-chemical properties of the near-shore waters during autumnal algal blooms in the northern Gulf of Oman Date 26 October 2016 04 November 2016 09 November 2016 29 November 2016 03 December 2016 Species/ Genus Alexandrium sp. Pror Nodularin accumulation in New Zealand shortfin eel from Lake Forsyth/Te Wairewa in 1866 2 and, from the 1940s onwards, open- ings have been carried out regularly. In 2008, the rūnanga attempted to create a permanent opening by constructing a 900 m canal and 300 m groyne at the eastern end of the bea Fig. 2. Nodularia spumigena from Lake Forsyth/Te Wairewa at 400 magnification (A) and blooms of the cyanobacterium at the lake in 2006 (B). Fig. 3. Eel fishing channels at Lake Forsyth/Te Wairewa (A) and members of the rūnanga of Wairewa catching eels in the channels by gaffing (B; photo provided by The Scottish Coastal Observatory Scotlands coastal environment is sub- ject to inherent variability resulting from short term processes such as tides and weather, the seasonal cycle, multi- annual cycles such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and larger scale influences such as climate change and oc The RedFANnetwork: a working group to deal with HABs in Mexico In October 2014 the network RedFAN (from the acronym in Spanish: Red temática sobre Florecimientos Algales Nocivos) was created with the financial support of the Mexican National Coun- cil of Science and Technology (CONA- CyT). This netw Caribbean Ciguatera Experts Discuss a Risk Management System for the IOCARIBE Region Over the past three decades the inci- dence of ciguatera has increased in the Caribbean countries by about 32 1. Despite the evidence of toxic events and their potential consequences on public health, fisheries and IOC/WESTPAC Scientists Shape the Future of Regional HAB Research More than twenty experts from coun- tries in the Western Pacific gathered in Nha Trang, Vietnam, 19-22 December 2016 to foster cooperation and define research priorities for Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the region (Fig. 1). The East ing the ongoing HAB research and ca- pacity building efforts at these levels. Dr. Po Teen Lim presented the science and implementation plans of the IOC- SCOR sponsored new GlobalHAB re- search program (Fig. 3). It was widely recognized that national and regional efforts are complementary to global e In memory of Paul Harrison With great sorrow, we learned of the recent unexpected passing of our col- league, mentor and friend Paul J. Har- rison. Among his many contributions, Paul was a founding member of the Sci- entific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) working Group 137 SCOR WG 137 Global supply, marine resources, climate change impacts and environmental protection. His voice and perspec- tive will be sorely absent. Paul will be greatly missed by those he touched, but especially by Victoria, his wife of 51 years, and their children Rachel, Richard and Christina. A scholarship fund th 11th International Conference on Modern and Fossil Dinoflagellates The University of Bordeaux (France) is the organiser of the 11 th International Conference on Modern and Fossil Dino- flagellates, DINO11, which will be held from 17 to 21 July 2017 at Bordeaux, France. This series of conference was IOC Qualifications in Identification and Enumeration of Harmful Marine Microalgae A now traditional IOC course on identi- fication of harmful marine microalgae, including optional workshops on enu- meration and culture techniques. The 2017 course will be held from 6 to 19 August at the IOC Science a Taxonomic Note Oceanography special issue Alexandrium catenella vs. A. fundyense The Nomenclature Committee for Algae has decided (Prudhomme van Reine, 2017) that the name Gonyaulax catenel- la (Alexandrium catenella) should not be rejected and that A. fundyense and A. catenella are conspecific havi