Joint FAO, IAEA, IOC and WHO Technical Meeting for the development of an InterAgency Global Ciguatera Strategy Harmful Algae News has previously brought information on an initiative between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Environment Laboratories in Monaco jointly with the Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to coordinate efforts on Ciguatera. To advance the initiative an inter-agency meeting was organized back to back with an IAEA Technical Cooperation Workshop on Monitoring and Management Strategies for Benthic HABs (see separate article in this issue of HAN). The four agencies met at the IAEA Environment Laboratories, Monaco from April 12-13, 2018 to define key steps to develop and formalize a coordinated strategy to address ciguatera poisoning globally. The strategy covers the following elements: (a) Improving toxic organism detection, monitoring and risk forecasting; (b) Improving toxin detection in the environment and food; and (c) Improving outbreak data collection and human health risk assessments. The formalized inter-agency agreement will signal to Member States and the user community that the agencies cooperate and thereby raise the awareness on Ciguatera Poisoning and that it also at national level requires interaction and collaboration between different authorities and stakeholders to protect public health and trade against Ciguatera. We will inform on development of concrete activities in coming issues of Harmful Algae News. Marie-Yasmine Dechraoui Bottein (IAEA), Henrik Enevoldsen (IOCUNESCO), Esther Garrido Gamarro (FAO), Angelika Tritscher (WHO) 20 New ISSHA website! www.issha.org This is a great time to renew your ISSHA membership or donate to a variety of achievement awards, including the Yasumoto Lifetime Achievement Award, the Patrick Gentien Young Scientist Award, or the Maureen Keller Student Awards. Please contact us at Anke.Kremp@ ymparisto.fi if you have any problems with the new website. New book This volume on the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) is aimed at synthesizing the broad range of research and activities that took place during the nearly 2 decades of the international programme bearing this acronym. The central challenge for GEOHAB was to understand the critical features and mechanisms underlying the population dynamics of HAB species in a variety of oceanographic regimes. GEOHAB fostered research that was multi-faceted, multidisciplinary, international and within an oceanographic context. With contributions from 69 authors from all over the world, this book reflects the global reach of the GEOHAB Programme. There is no doubt that there are more harmful algal bloom (HAB) events, occurring more often, in more places and lasting longer than in decades past. It is now also well established that many of these events are the result of human activities, primarily through increased nutrient inputs from land applications, direct sea applications (especially from aquaculture) and from atmospheric deposition, all of which have been increasing and have been altering the proportions and forms of nutrient loads. Species introductions are also occurring in ways and at rates not common in decades past, through ballast water and through transfer of materials in the aquaculture industry. As a result of these human activities, blooms are having more ecological, economic and human health impacts. As stated in the GEOHAB Science Plan (2001), these occurrences of toxic or harmful microalgae represent a significant and seemingly expanding threat to human health, fishery resources, and marine ecosystems throughout the world. This volume aims to capture the key focus areas of research under the GEOHAB umbrella. It introduces readers to the overarching framework of GEOHAB, factors contributing to the global expansion of HABs, the complexities of HABs in different habitats, and the forwardlooking issues to be tackled by the next generation of GEOHAB, GlobalHAB. ISBN 978-3-319-70069-4 Digitally watermarked, DRM-free Included format: PDF, EPUB https://www.springer.com/us/book/ 9783319700687 HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 60 / 2018 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 60 - July 2018 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab Marine eukaryote and HAB monitoring in Japan with next generation technology Sequencing technologies such as Illumina MiSeq have made it possible to obtain billions of sequence reads in a Frequency distribution (%) the surface data was used in this study. Surface seawater (0.5 L) was collected weekly with a plastic bucket during the same period. For MPS-based monitoring based on amplicon-seq of 18S-rRNA gene (V79 region), PCR amplification and 454 pyrosequencing were performed accor Inland Sea, 2-17-5 Maruishi, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-045, Japan Hiroshi Shimada, Central Fisheries Research Institute of Hokkaido Research Organization, Hamanaka-cho 238, Yoichi, Hokkaido 0468555, Japan Seiji Katakura, City of Mombetsu, Kaiyo-koryukan, Kaiyo-koen, Mombetsu, Hokkaido 094-0031, Jap Quantifying dinoflagellate cysts in bottom sediments: a response to Anderson 2018 Problems associated with quantifying dinoflagellate cysts in bottom sediments featured prominently in Don Anderson s personal retrospective view of his contribution to the early days of HAB cyst research published rece viously, sample sites should be chosen to avoid such areas if possible. Clearly, there is room for questions or criticism when this dynamic system is modelled from the assumption that bottom sediments, for example in Anderson s work in The Gulf of Maine, are in a static stable condition whereby a sa Contribution of marine invertebrates to Ciguatera poisoning : the case study of French Polynesia Reported as early as the 15th century by explorers, ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is the most prominent non-bacterial seafood poisoning worldwide. Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, CFP res au développement du phytoplancton ciguatérigène en Polynésie française: CARISTO-Pf n7937/MSR/REC of 4th of December 2015 and Arrêté nHC/491/ DIE/BPT of 30th March 2016). Figure 2. Comparison of Pacific ciguatoxins (P-CTXs) profiles in A) in vitro cultures of Gambierdiscus polynesiensis (TB-92 [14]) Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking (SPATT) technology for field monitoring of Gambierdiscus toxins with passive samplers Ciguatera poisoning is a seafood intoxication classically associated with the consumption of tropical coral reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs), although some marine Fig. 2. Summary of the results demonstrating that SPATT passive sampling could advantageously contribute to the reinforcement of ciguateric risk assessment and management programmes as a supplementary tool. or of very low densities of toxic Gambierdiscus cells. However, CTXs were detected in numero New limits of Ostreopsis distribution in the Bay of Biscay: a first report of Ostreopsis in Santander Bay, Cantabria (Northern Spain) Fig. 1. Location of sampling sites The genus Ostreopsis encompasses benthic dinoflagellates that represent one of the main microalgal threats for beach tourism in w Bloom of Ostreopsis cf. siamensis in Lisbon Bay Fig. 1. Sampling sites on Lisbon Bay Reports of benthic HAB events have increased during the last decade in temperate regions. These have been associated with proliferations of benthic toxic dinoflagellates, in particular species of Ostreopsis. The M Table1 1- List - List the macroalgaecommunity communityspecies species Table ofof the macroalgae ITSA and ITSB primers [6]. Phylogenetic analysis (not Asparagopsis armata Corallina sp. shown) revealed that all the Caulacanthus ustulatus Cystoseira sp. studied sequences grouped Ceramiacea Derbesia s A possible link between the breakdown of a fertilizer tank and a toxic Pseudonitzschia bloom fishery, leaving toxic blooms undetected in other areas. By the time of the bloom, the diatom community primarily consisted of P. seriata (Fig. 3). Identification of P. seriata as the potential culprit diat Fig. 3. Pseudo-nitzschia seriata TEM micrograph of the poroid structure arranged within the striae consisting of two outer rows of larger poroids and one or two inner rows of smaller poroids. induce DA production in P. australis [7], and the most potent DA-inducing N form has been shown to be urea. Golden alga Prymnesium parvum Carter bloom off Azhikode, southwest India In September 2009, during the southwest monsoon season, a quasi-monospecific bloom of Prymnesium parvum was collected off Azhikode (10o 11 02 N; 76o 09 22 E), on the southwest coast of India (Fig. 1). A conspicuous pale browni Regional Workshop on Monitoring and Management Strategies for Benthic HABs if possible, establish tools for standardized procedures. The exercise is open to the entire international community. The goal of achieving improved assessments of the risks associated with BHABs will help reduce the health, Workshop on morpho-molecular methods for the study of dinoflagellate cysts A workshop on techniques for the morphological and molecular identification of cysts from toxic HAB species, led by Drs Kenneth Neil Mertens, Kirsty Smith, Lesley Rhodes and Lincoln MacKenzie, was held recently at the Cawthro Cawthron Summer Scholar Explores Bloom-Forming Freshwater Cyano bacteria Globally, cyanobacteria blooms in freshwater environments are causing water quality problems and health risks with increasing frequency. New Zealand is no stranger to this, suffering from blooms of toxin-producing cyanobacteria Canadian HAB Scientists Hold Workshop to Establish National Priorities and Develop Research Network A National Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) workshop was organized and chaired by Dr. Ian Perry at the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Sidney, British Columbia, July 11- Joint FAO, IAEA, IOC and WHO Technical Meeting for the development of an InterAgency Global Ciguatera Strategy Harmful Algae News has previously brought information on an initiative between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Environment Laboratories in Monaco jointly with the Oceanographi 12th Advanced Phytoplankton Course - APC 12 Identification, Taxonomy, Systematics Roscoff Biological Station (France) - 19th May to 8th June 2019 APC12 is organized by the Station Biologique de Roscoff together with the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn and the IOC Science and Communication Centre on H ICHA 2018 News: 669 abstracts evaluated ! 250 orals + 45 ignite talks selected and participants notified ICHA 2018 News: 669 abstracts evaluated ! 9 plenaries confirmed 250 orals + 45 ignite talks selected and participants notified 3 satellite sessions 9 plenaries confirmed 3 satellite sessions