A red tide event associated with the dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland Fig. 1. Maximum abundance of K. mikimotoi by month and year for monitoring sites in Scottish coastal waters. The densest bloom observed exceeded 4 million cells per litre in July 2016. The potentially harmful dinoflagellate species Karenia mikimotoi has been an occasional red tide forming species in Scottish waters since the 1980s. In 2006 a bloom detected off the west coast of Scotland covered an exceptionally large area, progressing around the Scottish coast and leading to mass mortalities of benthic invertebrates and wild fish [1]. Since then regular monitoring has been undertaken by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), revealing recurrent blooms in late summer (Fig. 1). In addition to this, occurrences have been recorded at monitoring stations administered by Marine Science Scotland (MSS) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). In July 2016 SAMS alerted SEPA and MSS to increasing observations of K. mikimotoi in seawater samples collected from coastal sites around southwest Scotland. Soon after, members of the public made contact with SEPA regarding water discolouration and large numbers of dead marine life washed ashore along the coast at a number of locations in the Firth of Clyde. Samples were sent for identification by SEPA and MSS analysts, who made contact with SAMS, confirming there was an ongoing bloom event covering the Firth of Clyde area (Fig. 2). Combined SAMS and SEPA data illustrate the coverage and development of 6 this bloom through summer 2016 (Fig. 3). The bloom began in late July along the Ayrshire coast, and persisted at high abundance into September in Loch Ryan (Fig. 4). Cell density was sufficient to bring about hypoxic conditions three times [2, 3], and mass mortalities of a variety of marine organisms were reported during these periods. One SEPA sample in Loch Ryan contained 3.5 x 107 cells per L-1, which would have the potential to bring about total anoxia in the immediate vicinity upon termination of the bloom [2] (Fig. 5). This is reflected in the greater variety of organisms reported washed ashore dead in the Loch Ryan area. Considerable effort has been made to describe and predict the conditions that initiate these blooms [4, 1], as the species has the potential to cause economic damage to the important finfish aquaculture sector on the west coast of Scotland. Blooms can occur as a result of advection from offshore [1, 5], or sparsely-distributed overwintering vegetative cells may act as a seed population when environmental conditions become favourable [5]. Karenia mikimotoi has also been observed to have a resting stage in the form of non-motile spherical cells [6] that could have the potential to initiate a bloom. For part of the bloom period, the electronic bathing water advice signs administered by SEPA were automatically warning against swimming, due to heavy rainfall in the area which overloads wastewater treatment capac- Fig. 2. The 2016 K. mikimotoi bloom. A: locations of reported mass mortalities; B: K. mikimotoi cells sampled at Ettrick Bay, isle of Bute; C: dead lugworms washed up on the shoreline at Ettrick Bay; D: discoloured water in Loch Ryan. HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 58 / 2017 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 58 - November 2017 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab Call to Contribute to Global Harmful Algal Bloom Status Reporting From 25 to 28 September 2017 sixteen HAB experts from 13 countries gathered at the headquarters of the IOC IODE (Inte the first of which will be launched in Nantes. Follow the development of the Global HAB Status Report at http://haedat. iode.org/ and see who is involved and how you may engage. Acknowledgements We thank Ward Appeltans and Pieter Provoost at the IOC/IODE Project Office for hospitality and technical PSP# # # # # # DSP# # # # # # AZP# ! ! ! Fig. 4. Maps showing the incidence of PSP, DSP and AZP during the period 2014 to 2016 in the North Atlantic as reported by the ICES-IOC WG HABD. Areas such as Northern Canada and Greenland are not routinely sampled and countries with pink borders have sti Pelagic Sargassum reaching Serranilla Bank, Caribbean Colombia, may pose a risk to baby turtles Fig. 1. Location of Serranilla Bank in the Caribbean Sea (Photo Wikipedia) Floating Sargassum has been known from centuries to occur in the Atlantic Ocean, in a region named the Sargasso Sea. Floating S NEW!! Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Desalination: A Guide to Impacts, Monitoring, and Management Manuals and Guides 78 Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Desalination: A Guide to Impacts, Monitoring, and Management Fig. 3. Sargassum accumulation as a thick mat on the nesting beach Edited by: Dona A red tide event associated with the dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland Fig. 1. Maximum abundance of K. mikimotoi by month and year for monitoring sites in Scottish coastal waters. The densest bloom observed exceeded 4 million cells per litre in July 2016. The potenti Fig. 5. Theoretical effect of the K. mikimotoi bloom on background dissolved oxygen concentration (black horizontal dashed line: Firth of Clyde summer averaged SEPA data 2005-2015). Cell density was sufficient to cause hypoxia on 3 occasions at 4.59mg L-1[8] or once at 2mg L-1 (grey dashed lines). A First evidence of high saxitoxin concentration in Crassostrea iridiscens associated with Gymnodinium catenatum blooms at Banderas Bay, Jalisco México Fig. 1. Location of sampling stations in Banderas Bay Jalisco México during Gymnodinium catenatum bloom from March to June of 2017. Banderas Bay has Fig. 2. High saxitoxin concentration in Crassostrea iridiscens associated with Gymnodinium catenatum blooms in Banderas Bay, Jalisco México. Fig. 4. Micrographs of live cells of Gymnodinium catenatum from Banderas Bay at 400x (a) and 200x (b); Seawater discoloration due to a G. catenatum patch duri ICES-IOC Working Group on Harmful Algal Blooms Dynamics The report of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC) Working Group on Harmful Algal Bloom Dy namics (ICES-IOC WGHABD) is now available on the ICES website ( SEAFDEC-MFRD Regional Training Course in Malaysia Harmful algal blooms (HAB) and their socio-economic impacts are recognized internationally due to the negative impacts from HABs on the the coastal ecosystem, safety and security of food and drinking water, and human health hazards. Some incidents an Forthcoming events Workshop on morpho-molecular methods for the study of dinoflagellate cysts ICES-IOC-IMO Working Group on Ballast and Other Ship Vectors 5-7 March 2018 Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th February 2018 Location: Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand Organi 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 Rex Munday in Memoriam Dr Rex Munday, an internationally renowned toxicologist, sadly passed away on the 20th July this year. His wife Christine, daughter Sarah (Finch) and son John were with him. Rex published with all his family at different times, an example being the paper Munday, Munday and Mun Rex Mundays HAB research highlights Discovery of Tetrodotoxin in grey side-gilled sea slugs: Rex had a sharp wit, best illustrated with an anecdote from 2013. We had collected hundreds of samples to explain why dogs were dying on Auckland beaches and sent twelve to Rex for toxicity screening using l ! Oostende OBIS/HAEDAT training workshop participants. Eds-in-chief Beatriz Reguera, IEO, Vigo, Spain Eilen Bresnan, MARLAB, Scotland, UK Regional Editors Caribbean: Ernesto Mancera jemancerap@unal.edu.co Europe: Philip Hess Philipp.Hess@ifremer.fr India: K.B. Padmakumar kbpadmakumar@gmail.c