As part of the 25th anniversary issue of Harmful Algal News I am providing an overview of the IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Algae (www. marinespecies.org/hab/) and will highlight some of the problems which have faced or are facing the Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (IPHAB) Task Team on Taxonomy that is responsible for updating the list. Historical timeline 1993 A task team on the taxonomy of harmful algae was established at the Second Session of the IOC-FAO Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms in Paris in October 1993, in line with the HAB Programme Plan. The aim of the task team was to make taxonomic recommendations of harmful algal species, and membership comprised Y. Fukuyo, Japan, M. Elbrächter, Germany, and Ø. Moestrup, Denmark, the latter serving as chairman. During the 1993 session it was encouraged to create a computerized taxonomic data base of harmful species, an activity which at the time was planned between the Expert Centre on Taxonomic Identification (ETI) in Amsterdam and the Botanical Institute, University of Copenhagen. 1997 A major step forward was taken at the Fourth Session of the IOC Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms, which was held in Vigo, Spain 1997. There it was decided to establish a broader Task Team on Algal Taxonomy, with the following terms of reference: I. to provide an agreed reference list of harmful algal species, including correct author citation, date of valid publication of the species, and a list of synonyms for each species II. to provide guidelines to reduce nomenclature instability of harmful algal species III. to organize round table discussions on nomenclature and taxonomy of harmful algal species IV. to organize inter-calibration exercises to standardize the identification of harmful algal species 12 2000 The contents of the list were discussed in detail at the HAB Conference in Hobart in 2000, and it was decided to aim at including additional information in the list such as the basionym of each species (the first name applied to the species), reference to the article in which the species was described, reference to the article in which the species was given its current name, information on the type locality, information on the main harmful effects of each species, including up to three references with information on toxicity, toxins or toxic effects. 2002 The list was completed in 2002 and made available online on the homepage of the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen. Post 2002 During the following years the list was regularly updated, based on information from committee members and others. The list was also discussed at the meetings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms in Paris and suggestions for improvements were made. 2008 A major change took place in 2008 when the list became part of WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species. This change was decided following a visit by Gert Hansen, Henrik Enevoldsen and me to the headquarters of WoRMS at VLIZ in Oostende, Belgium. The merits of becoming part of WoRMS were discussed and the technicalities of how to include and update species in WoRMS were explained and demonstrated. WoRMS is a very large database which includes almost half a million species of marine organisms. It was decided that the HAB list should both be included in WoRMS and be accessible as a separate entity of WoRMS. The WoRMS list is harvesting algal taxonomic data from ALGAE-BASE in Ireland. It was subsequently decided that the IPHAB Task Team should coordinate the List of Harmful Microalgae with ALGAE-BASE by using the same names of the relevant algal species. The names from ALGAE-Base are therefore automatically used in the List of Harmful Microalgae. When name changes become necessary, these are discussed and agreed with ALGAE-BASE and inserted in both lists. Which species should be included in the list? The list was born as a result of the growing interest in harmful algae. The many name changes which regularly took place for many harmful algae, following publication of new information, was/ is a source of confusion to ecologists, toxicologists, people involved in routine monitoring and others, thus construction of an agreed and updated list was considered important. A decision had to be made on which species to include in the list. Early on the distinguished member of the Task Team, Prof Y. Halim from Egypt, of Alexandrium minutum fame, suggested that all harmful species should be included in the list, in other words the list should include also species which at some stage had formed blooms, causing low oxygen levels in the water at night, and leading to mortality of fish and/or or bottom invertebrates such as certain species of diatoms and silicoflagellates. While these were and still are very real issues, to include all such species in the list would have made the list too long and difficult to handle. It would have entailed including numerous non-toxic and usually harmless species. The Task Team eventually agreed on including only species known to form a toxin or suspected to do so. The lack of knowledge about toxins was particularly relevant for algae causing fish kills, as many of the compounds responsible for the fish kills were/are still not well known. The next problem was to decide on the definition of the term toxic, did it mean toxic to humans, fish, Artemia? It was agreed to concentrate on species toxic to humans or to fish. When in doubt, a comment was included under the relevant species. Nomenclature problems One reason for the development of the list was that incorrect author citations were recorded in the literature. In fact, the poor general knowledge of and interest in nomenclature is still a problem. HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 59 / 2018 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 59 - February 2018 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab Content 25 years of HAN and IPHAB...... 1 25 YEARS Harmful Algae News was first published in early 1992 in response to requests from the participants at a number of IOC meetings and pacted by harmful algal events. Since Harmful Algae News turned 20 years old in 2012, it has been a web based e-newsletter which meant longer issues were possible and back issues easily accessible. We are currently working on a searchable index for all Harmful Algae News issues. The start of Harmful Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms also turned 25! During 1992, the same Year as the IOC published the first issue of Harmful Algal News, it also established an Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (IPHAB) which has met every second year since it was formed. The Panel is com A retrospective look at the early days of HAB cyst research, and a look to the future On this occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of Harmful Algae News, several of us were asked to look backwards in time to some of the earlier days of HAB science. One area of study that has been a ma dormant stages and that these stages might be associated with certain bottom sediments. This then brings up the question, if benthic resting stages of certain dinoflagellates actually seed coastal red tides, are there localized areas of accumulation, or what we could call seedbeds?..........The poss day, we still do not know if there are other factors at work perhaps a density-dependent or quorum-sensing type of response, or even a response to the presence of grazers or parasites. Exploration of this response has long been limited by the constraints associated with laboratory cultures, but now approach did not stand up to data at my study locations. I raise this issue in this narrative because I want to correct what I feel are unjustified recommendations that may prevent those working on cysts from obtaining the type of biological data that can advance our understanding of certain types o number of cysts in subsurface layers unable to germinate or emerge, presumably due to lack of oxygen or to the tortuous pathway posed by sediment grains and detritus. Many might think that major storms and waves can erode significant layers of sediment and transport cysts long distances, but here ag How do algal blooms kill finfish and how can we mitigate their impacts? Algal blooms, water discolorations and their association with fish kills have been recorded since historic times, such as the description in the Bible (1000 years BC) all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. A Table. 1. Economic losses from algal blooms for finfish aquaculture in different parts of the world HAB species Chattonella Heterosigma Cochlodinium polykrikoides Heterosigma Chaetoceros Heterosigma Karenia digitata Karenia mikimotoi Country Financial Losses Japan Korea, China Canada British Col emergency harvest operations. To prevent the buildup of histamines, fish should be kept alive as long as possible during harvesting. This can be achieved by diluting algal concentrations via airlift upwelling, or by targeted in-pen emergency application of clays [23] that mop up ichthyotoxins at cla As part of the 25th anniversary issue of Harmful Algal News I am providing an overview of the IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Algae (www. marinespecies.org/hab/) and will highlight some of the problems which have faced or are facing the Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms Dinophyceae the authors intended the new genus to be described according to the botanical nomenclature. The lack of a Latin diagnosis therefore made it invalid. The confusion has actually still not been resolved, and the problem needs to be discussed and decided upon by the International Nomenclatur geographically widespread species being able to form fertile offspring, while other populations of the same species are not. Molecular techniques have contributed very significantly to solving many taxonomic problems, but they have not resulted in the emergence of a finite species concept. We have t Algal toxin discovery, management and regulation over the last 25 years Algal toxins in the dark ages (pre-1992) From a historic perspective, knowledge about algal toxins can be divided into truly prehistoric occurrences such as known from paleontological studies [1-2] and more recent historic recor lar rapid increase in known analogues has been observed for the azaspiracid (AZA) group, with the first analogue described in 1998 [64] and a review in 2014 reporting 30 analogues [65]. Only three years later, over 50 analogues are known for this group, including novel phosphate derivatives [66-71]. Butterflies in Brazil Abstracts are not always reliable guides to authors intentions. They are not expected to reveal a great deal about the evidence to be deployed in support of the science, evidence that may not even exist before deadlines for writing abstracts! Nevertheless, as examples of a mino on a decadal time scale, and identified palaeoclimatic oscillations are not necessarily a useful guide to its interpretation. An obvious obstacle to detecting climate signals in HAB data is posed by anthropogenic eutrophication. Another obstacle is the fact that phytoplankton respond directly to the trends, Karenia brevis might appear more often in the South Atlantic Bight of the US and Gymnodinium catenatum bloom more often in northwestern Iberian waters. There was also a warning by Barrie Dale germane to such speculations, that large scale climate models cannot predict local changes. Little m Red tides in Kamchatka coastal waters (Bering Sea, Russia) are a barrier for the salmon fishery and Pacific salmon Fig. 1. Map of Olyutorskiy Bay (Kamchatka, Bering Sea) where a red tide, reported by fishermen, occurred in July 2017. The stars denote fishery sites: red, affected by the bloom; green Fig. 2. Red tide in Olyutorskiy Bay on 15th July 2017 grounds of the Olyutorskiy Bay river basin performed during the second half of August showed an atypical distribution in the rivers. Maximal escapes were recorded in river basins located in the western and eastern parts of the Olyutorskiy Bay ar First report of Gambierdiscus in the Western Mediterranean Sea (Balearic Islands) Gambierdiscus (Dinophyceae) species are benthic dinoflagellates living in marine littoral zones of circumtropical areas and have recently been described in temperate waters [1]. Some species are producers of potent neu the SEASENSING (BIO2014-56024C2-2-R) project and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. A. Tudó and A. Toldrà acknowledge IRTAURV-Banco Santander for their respective PhD grants (2016 PMF-PIPF-74 and 2015PMF-PIPF-67). The authors are grateful to Vanessa Castan and José Luis Costa for sampling Comparison by light microscopy and qPCR of potentially ichthyotoxic microalgae in Danish on-shore lagoons producing European flounder (Platichthys flesus): Pros and cons of microscopical and molecular methods Fig. 1. Lagoon used for production of European flounder at Fishlab, Denmark. Evaluation o Fig. 2. Comparison of phytoplankton species identification and cell densities (cells L-1) by qPCR (A and C) and light microscopy (target species and groups which potentially could comprise ichthyotoxic organisms) (B and D) in lagoon 1 (A and B) and lagoon 6 (C and D), respectively. The right Y-axis present in a sample then qPCR would miss those probably due to lack of a developed assay. However, LM does require high levels of taxonomic skills and the precision in identification is only as accurate as the taxonomist allows. Different taxonomists trained in different ways using different identif As qPCR measures genetic material rather than viable cells an over estimation of cell numbers can occur due to the inclusion of dead or dying cells. Problems may also occur when targeting multiple copy genes where the organism carries different numbers of the target depending on nutritional status, The Cawthron Institute Culture Collection of Micro-algae (CICCM) The CICCM is designated as a nationally significant database by the New Zealand government and so receives partial funding for its continued existence. Isolates from 13 classes of micro-algae are maintained either as live cultures or c The XVIII International Conference on Harmful Algae is approaching! It is time for nominations for achievement awards (Yasumoto Life Time and Patrick Gentien Young Scientist), registration to the conference as a student if you wish to participate in the Maureen Keller Award competition and fundraisi Forthcoming Events First announcement of the 11th International Conference on Toxic Cyanobacteria (ICTC) We are pleased to disseminate the first announcement of the 11th International Conference on Toxic Cyanobacteria (ICTC) that will be held in Krakow, Poland from May 5 10, 2019. The ICTC is a per International Coordination of Research on Harmful Algal Blooms From GEOHAB to GlobalHAB International cooperation is fundamental to advance understanding of HAB dynamics and to improve our ability to predict them. Fostering this international cooperation was the mission of GEOHAB (Global Ecology and 18th International Conference on Harmful Algae www.icha2018.com IMPORTANT DEADLINES Abstract submission deadline: 15 April 2018 Early bird registration: 15 July 2018 Get the 17 ICHA Proceedings at www.issha.org Eds-in-chief Beatriz Reguera, IEO, Vigo, Spain Eilen Bresnan, MARLAB, Scotland, UK Regi