HAN 66

Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 66 - December 2020 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab The Recurring Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt Impacts the Caribbean and South Florida Content Featured article: The Recurring Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (by Brian Lapointe) ........

and atmospheric inputs [5]. Human influences on several of these nutrient sources greatly increased in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of increased application of agricultural fertilizers, urbanization, atmospheric pollution, and extreme rainfall and flooding associated with climate change. These i

the Sargassum expansion as an emerging HAB issue. A new subcommittee dedicated to this topic has been established (see GlobalHAB this issue) Acknowledgements Fig 4. Sargassum stranding event on the south side of the Ft. Pierce inlet, Ft. Pierce, Florida, July, 2020 since 2011, especially followin

Ciguatera fish poisoning event in New Zealand from imported tropical reef fish and confirmation of Pacific ciguatoxins by LC-MS/MS Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is an illness caused by the consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs) and possibly maitotoxins (MTXs). The causative organi

intoxication events. No regulatory limits have been officially set for CTXs, although the FDA has an established action level of 0.01 μg/kg P-CTX-1B equivalents for Pacific CTXs and 0.1 μg/ kg C-CTX-1 equivalents for Caribbean CTXs [6]. Two additional fish imported in the same batch as the recalled

First report of Ostreopsis in a tropical mangrove lagoon in São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea) Fig. 1. Location of a) S. Tomé Island in the Gulf of Guinea (African Continent), b) the Malanza lagoon (00246N, 63148E) at the south of S. Tomé Island, and c) the sampling station (M1) in Malanza lagoon. W

Table 1. Morphometric characteristics of Ostreopsis cells (n=6) analyzed in this study. Dorsoventral diameter and width (including mean standard deviation values). Ǧ diameter (μm) Ͷ ǤͶͶ ͻǤͶͲ ͶͷǤͻͻ ͶͳǤͳ ͷͳǤͶ ͶǤͲͲ ά ͶͷǤͶͶ άͶǤͲͷ the species identification is required. Ostreopsis cells were detect

The impact of toxic Dinophysis spp. on the productivity of Scottish shellfish farms Fig. 1: Map of the Scottish marine regions. Shellfish farms considered in this study are located in the Western Scotland (Clyde, Clyde, Outer Hebrides and Shetland Islands) (Credit Scottish Gov). There is limited e

(843 tonnes) and Outer Hebrides (678 tonnes). The Shetland Islands is the region characterised by the highest capital-intensive production with 75 sites employing in total 112 staff. Using a production function approach applied to a panel data of mussel farms in the four most productive Scottish she

Bloom of Cylindrotheca closterium originating from shrimp farming discharges in the SE Gulf of Mexico waters of northern Yucatan, the species is present in high numbers throughout the year. Blooms have been observed mainly during the warmer rainy season from mid-May to mid-October [3]. Our observat

New GlobalHAB Theme: Sargassum Blooms The GlobalHAB Science and Implementation Plan (www.globalhab. info) identifies that new, emerging HAB related issues can be incorporated into the program. This has been the case with the Sargassum mass occurrences in the Caribbean and the west coast of Africa (F

Insights from the first US HAB Symposium Science Communication Workshop The 10th US Symposium on Harmful Algae was held November 3-8, 2019, in beautiful Orange Beach, Alabama hosted jointly by researchers from the University of South Alabama, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Auburn University and the Univer

dustry-focused meetings such as those related to the local fishing community or aquaculture. An educated media is vital for effective community response to threats against human health and local economies that arise from HAB activity. Too often, the discussion coincides with an active bloom event wh

Advances in Colombia to address the Ciguatera problem In the last two decades, an average of 17 cases of ciguatera poisoning (CP) have been registered each year in the Colombian Caribbean. Given that epidemiological surveillance is not very comprehensive, the number of cases is likely to be much hig

Luis Alfonso Vidal Velásquez (1950-2020) In Memoriam On November 8, 2020, Professor Luis Alfonso Vidal Velásquez, the academic authority on marine phytoplankton in Colombia, sadly passed away. Alfonso graduated as a Marine Biologist from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University and since then he dedicated his

Masaaki Kodama In Memoriam Masaaki Kodama was born on September 7th, 1943 in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo. He passed away on August 30th, 2020 at the age of 76 after more than six months in hospital. This was a big shock for all his colleagues, especially for those he had trained in toxinchemistry

Fig. 3. Having a discussion with Dr Rhodora Azanza during a training course in Kitasato University, July 1995 understandable lectures attracted all participants. Figure 3 shows him during a discussion about toxins with Dr. Rhodora Azanza, a participant from the Philippines. Dr. Kodama visited the P

Fig. 5. International cooperation on ASP toxicity in Vietnam. Graduation of Dr. Dao Viet Ha, currently the director of the Institute of Oceanography of Nha Trang, last PhD student of Kodama. Fig. 6. Bathing in a hot spring, with the Coast Guard officers, Atlantic coast of Guatemala, during a sampli

ISSHAs Corner NEW DATE: October 10-15 2021 Dear ISSHA members and colleagues, The organizing committee is pleased to announce the call for abstracts for the 19th International Conference on Harmful Algal Blooms to be held from the 10th to the 15th of October 2021 in the Conference Center of La Paz,

Monitoring and preventing ciguatera poisoning FAO-IAEA-IOC-WHO e-learning course Ciguatera poisoning is one of the most common foodborne illnesses related to consumption of fishery products, caused by ingesting seafood that have been contaminated by ciguatoxins (CTXs). This course is designed to hel