Molluscan Shellfish Safety Conference in Ireland Over 230 international delegates from 27 countries participated in the 11th International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (ICMSS) from Sunday 14 to Thursday 18 May 2017 at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Convened by Irelands Marine Institute, the ICMSS is the only international conference that focuses specifically on molluscan shellfish safety, and has previously been hosted by countries including New Zealand, Canada, France, Spain, Australia, USA, and Chile. The 2017 conference programme addressed the themes of protecting consumers, assuring supply and growing confidence. Participants including sea-food safety professionals, scientists, regulators and industry experts discussed these topics and focused on success and innovation in seafood safety and the latest research that will lead us into the future. Conference Convenor Joe Silke of the Marine Institute said, The conference was a huge success and was very timely with recent developments in areas of HABs including the occurrence of Tetrodotoxin in European bivalves, blooms of Alexandrium pseudogonyaulax and its goniodomines in the Limfjorden (Kattegat) and innovative risk management and science based models from around the world. The conference hosted sessions on emerging toxin methods and new technology where advances in novel instrumentation and testing methods were presented. Mr Silke said Ireland has a distinguished track record in the area of molluscan shellfish safety, in developing state- of-the-art monitoring protocols, forecasting tools and a variety of cutting-edge research activities. The ICMSS will help to further increase our knowledge and showcase our commitment to shellfish safety. The keynote speaker for ICMSS was public health specialist Dorothy-Jean McCoubrey, who has more than 30 years of experience in regulatory roles in New Zealand. Ms McCoubrey said the conference gathers together the worlds best experts to achieve two important goals; The first goal is to dream big with our visionary food safety research. The second is to translate this imaginative foresight into practical and useful material that has the potential to benefit all of society. Over 70 oral and 46 poster presentations were delivered in 16 themed sessions. The conference keynote presentations were streamed live and over 800 viewers tuned in to these presentations from all over the world. These keynotes were presented by Jim Oliver Bonnie Cone, Distinguished Professor and Professor of Microbiology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte (USA), and Andrew Turner, Principle Chemist at Cefas Weymouth Food Safety Group (UK). There were also keynote presentations from Donald Anderson from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (USA), Jan Vinjé from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA), Ana Gago-Martinez from the EU Reference Laboratory for Marine Biotoxins (Spain) and Philipp Hess from IFREMER, Nantes (France) In addition, the ICMSS included a series of five 2 hour workshops on the last day to explore new technologies and regulatory matters in food safety. For more specific information on the content and abstracts at the 2017 conference see www.icmss2017.com The international conference was hosted by the Marine Institute in association with Bord Iascaigh Mhara, The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, The Irish Shellfish Association and NUI Galway. The next ICMSS will be hosted in Mexico in May 2019 and further information on this will be published in due course. Members of the local organising committee attending the official opening of the 11th ICMSS Conference 12 HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 57 / 2017 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 57 - June 2017 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab Unusual fish killing blooms of Tripos furca in Van Phong Bay, South Viet Nam In the beginning of November 2016, a phytoplankton bloom was observed by fisherman in Van Phong Bay, Viet Nam Fig. 2. Chl-a distribution in coastal waters of Khanh Hoa province during 14th October to 25th November 2016 (sources: MODIS-Aqua Level 2 images, NASA). Clear skies were observed on 14th October, and 11th, 13th, 15th, 22nd, 25th November, while the other days were very cloudy. High chl-a concentrati vung-sim-2461816/ 3. Nguyen VN et al 2014. In: Kim HG et al (eds) Harmful Algae 2012. Proc15th ICHA (ISSHA) pp 48-51 4. Hodgkiss IJ & Lu S 2004. In: Asian Pacific Phycology in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges, pp 215-229 5. Machida M et al 1999. Nippon Suisan Gakk 65: 755756 6. Mat Mortality of Chilean farmed salmon in wellboats in transit through a Karenia bloom Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of the stations sampled near the Gulf of Penas, Chile, between 31st January and 1st February 2017. A mass mortality of around 170,000 salmon, worth US$ 390,000, was recorded on wellbo Fig. 3. Density (cells L-1) of Karenia spp. in water samples of the vicinity of the Gulf of Penas. nels, composed mainly of diatoms. Most Karenia (ex Gymnodinum) species produce toxins that can kill fish and other marine organisms when they bloom. In addition to toxicity, some Karenia blooms cause A bloom of Amphidinium carterae in Ria de Aveiro, Portugal Fig. 1. Ria de Aveiro and oyster farm location. Amphydinium carterae is a benthic unarmored cosmopolitan dinoflagellate classed as a fish killer due to its capacity to produce hemolytic compounds such as amphidinols [1] and polyhydroxyl car Harmful dinoflagellates in the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria, West Africa Fig. 1. Coastal map of Nigeria showing the study area. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are worldwide phenomena [1]. The increasing spread, frequency and severity of harmful algal incidents have been well documented and have led to the ble are toxic harmful dinoflagellates that produce a suite of toxins, including Alexandrium catenella and Gymnodinium catenatum (saxitoxins), Dinophysis caudata (okadaic acid congeners), and benthic HAB (Ostreopsis cf ovata, palytoxins, and Prorocentrum lima, okadaic acid). These toxins can directly Satellite detection of Trichodesmium blooms in the Southwestern Pacific and the Tonga trench [2]. This area coincides with high nitrogen fixation rates [3]. There are numerous correlations between the observations of surface mats in the ocean and high reflectance In the oceans, a large portion of t Fig. 2a) MODIS image of the Trichodesmium bloom with white and green mats between Vanuatu Islands and New Caledonia in December 2014; with Landsat 8 zooms on mats superimposed and the microscopic observation of Trichodesmium colonies in surface samples at the SPOT station visited with R/V Alis; b) P Plankton Planet in New Zealand Plankton Planet is the first citizen science programme designed for biological oceanography. It is a co-operation between scientists and volunteers from the sailing community based on mass sequencing of DNA barcodes from the extracts of plankton communities collected w Molluscan Shellfish Safety Conference in Ireland Over 230 international delegates from 27 countries participated in the 11th International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (ICMSS) from Sunday 14 to Thursday 18 May 2017 at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Convened by Irelands Marin 13th Session of the Intergovernmemntal Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (IPHAB) This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (IPHAB) established under the auspices of IOC of UNESCO. Over that period IPHAB has provided the international framework for region Forthcoming events will be held at the 10 Indo-Pacific Fish Conference (10 IPFC ), 2-6 October 2017, Tahiti, French Polynesia (https:// ipfc10.criobe.pf/). Organizers: Mireille Chinain, Susanna Piovano, Jean Turquet, Marie-Yasmine Dechraoui-Bottein (mchinain@ilm.pf; susanna.piovano@usp.ac.fj; Turque Scientific Committee Topics: Advances in the analysis of existing and emerging marine and freshwater toxins. Ann Abraham, FDA, US Mass spectrometry, molecular methods, toxicity assays, bioassays and screening tests. Arjen Gerssen, WUR, NL Structural characterization of new potential toxins. Ja the 18th international conference on harmful algae from ecosystems to socio-ecosystems SAVE the date! FATMA GUELLATI/UPMC-UNIV BADJI MOKHTAR Minyvel Environnement/Phenomer Nicolas Chomérat/IFREmer Véronique Séchet/IFREmer Olivier BARBAROUX/IFREmer Stéphane LESBATS/IFREmer Olivier DUG Ted Smayda in Memoriam 10 April 2017 This year the HAB and research community lost another giant intellect. Professor Theodore J. Smayda, (Ted as he preferred to be called) passed away after a period of illness. A graduate of the Braarud School of phytoplankton ecology of Oslo, Norway, Ted held uniq IV INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, June 4-8, Washington DC Organized by ICES, PICES, IOC and NOAA Fisheries The 4th International Symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems and how to respond. The Symposium will Highlight the latest