Aotearoa/New Zealand Japan collaboration strengthened through HAB research at Cawthron Institute the 16th Young Researchers Award from the Japanese Society of Phycology for his research on harmful algae in Japan. Acknowledgements The collaboration between New Zealand and Japan has been continued and strengthened since Dr Tomohiro Nishimura (Fig. 1) has been working at Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand. He arrived in 2018 on a two year Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Overseas Research Fellowship. During that time, Tomohiros research focused on the diversity of, and diarrhetic shellfish toxin production by, the benthic dinoflagellate genus Prorocentrum in some regions of Oceania [13]. He also reported the first instance of DTX1 production for multiple New Zealand P. lima complex strains [T. Nishimura, unpublished data]. Several new records of benthic Prorocentrum species and other benthic/planktonic dinoflagellate genera/species were also recorded during that research period [T. Nishimura, unpublished data] and will be added to the New Zealand checklists of benthic and planktonic dinoflagellates [4,5]. He was also involved in other HAB research, relating to New Zealand or Japan, published between 2018 and 2020 [614]. Cawthron Institute then offered a scholarship for a further two years, beginning in April 2020. Despite the difficulties encountered during COVID-19 lockdowns, Tomohiro focused on the amnesic shellfish poisoning toxin producing planktonic diatom genus Pseudonitzschia and cultured more than 100 isolates from New Zealands coastal waters for investigating species diversity and toxin production. The presence of fourteen species, several of which were new records for New Zealands coastal waters were confirmed. Preliminary toxin analyses suggested that multiple strains of these newly reported species did not produce domoic acid and epidomoic acid [15]. The results from this research were presented to the New Zealand seafood industry and regulatory representatives at the Seafood Advisory Group meeting, held by the Cawthron Institute in Nelson in December 2020. The upside of the research was that the new species reported did not alter the current monitoring regime and may even allow for some relaxing of the risk alerts for some Pseudo-nitzschia species. A further project has recently been funded through the Catalyst: Seeding New Zealand - Japan Joint Research Project Programme, collaborating with Kochi University, Japan. This will lead to the mapping of the predicted distribution of toxic benthic microalgae given the forecasted global warming of Japans and New Zealands coastal waters. In 2020 Tomohiro was awarded the 19th Young Investigators Award from the PlankFig. 1. Tomohiro Nishimura, sampling at Te Uenga Bay, ton Society of Japan and Northland, New Zealand, 2019 HARMFUL ALGAE NEWS NO. 67 / 2021 The technical help of Lucy Thompson and Jacqui Stuart was appreciated. Diarrhetic shellfish toxin and amnesic shellfish poisoning toxin analyses were carried out by J. Sam Murray, Joshua Fitzgerald and Michael J. Boundy. The research was partly supported by the NZ government-funded Seafood Safety programme (Contract No. CAWX1080). References 1. Murray S et al 2018. Harmful Algae News 61: 1112 2. Butler J et al 2019. Harmful Algae News 62: 1819 3. Rhodes L et al 2019. Harmful Algae News 62: 1617 4. Rhodes L & Smith KF 2018. N Z J Mar Freshwater Res 53: 258277 5. Rhodes LL et al 2020. N Z J Mar Freshwater Res 54: 86101 6. Balci M et al 2020. Harmful Algae News 64: 89 7. Murray JS et al 2020. Harmful Algae 97: 101853 8. Nishimura T et al 2018. Plankton Benthos Res 13: 4658 9. Nishimura T et al 2020. Phycological Res 68: 3040 10. Nishimura T et al 2020. Harmful Algae 96: 101687 11. Nishimura T et al 2020. Harmful Algae In Press: 101924 12. Rhodes LL et al 2020. Toxins 12: 50 13. Rhodes L et al 2020. Harmful Algae News 65: 1011 14. Yoshimatsu T et al 2020. Phycologia 59: 551555 15. Nishimura T et al 2020. The 40th Japanese Society of Diatomology Annual Meeting, Online, Japan, 56 December 2020 Authors Lesley L Rhodes & Kirsty F Smith Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, PB 2, Nelson, New Zealand Email corresponding author: Lesley.rhodes@cawthron.org.nz 21 Harmful Algae News An IOC Newsletter on Toxic Algae and Algal Blooms No. 67 - April 2021 www.ioc-unesco.org/hab SHIOHIGARI and PSP toxins in Japan: Initiatives to save traditional recreatio nal clam picking Shiohigari has been enjoyed by people in Japan for centuries, as depicted in the Japanese a Fig. 2 Clamming parks in Osaka Prefecture (Modified from a digital map of The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan) ingly, they had developed the exchange system to secure viability of their operations before 2002 when PST exceeding the regulatory limit were first detected in clams from seas a Fig. 4 System of exchanging clams which secure food safety at Tannowa clamming park (Modified from [3} of visitors to clamming parks has now recovered. This is a success story of how to mitigate socio-economic impact on recreational clamming in Osaka prefecture due to PST. Thanks to the initiatives HABs and the Mixoplankton Paradigm Mixotrophs are defined as organisms that are able to use photo-autotrophy and phagotrophy or osmotrophy to obtain organic nutrients [1]. It is notable that all phototrophic protists are potentially mixotrophic if only through expression of osmotrophy enabled by the Fig. 2. Indication of proportion of IOC-UNESCO HAB species [6] assigned to each of the HAB plankton functional groups according to key in Fig.1 compiled by cross-reference to a database on mixoplankton species. CM, constitutive mixoplankton; pSNCM, plastidic specialist non-constitutive mixoplankton; Fig. 3. Schematics and model simulation outputs run under the traditional paradigm (left) versus the mixoplankton paradigm (right). See text for explanation. B bacteria; Phyto phytoplankton (non-phagotrophic phototroph); μZ protozooplankton; CM constitutive mixoplankton (photophago-trophic); DIM Tiny cells with a big impact: An unexpected bloom in the mid-Atlantic Fig. 1. a) Bongo nets fouled with the brown mucilaginous plankton. b) Dark and gelatinous content of the plankton nets scraped into a sample tray. Since 1992, the US NOAA Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) cruises survey the Northeas Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs of frustules in valve view of Thalassiosira mala. Note the single eccentric strutted process (black arrow), the ring of marginal strutted processes (arrowheads) and the single labiate process (white arrow) located within the ring of marginal strutted processes s Acknowledgements We are grateful to Kyle Turner for helpful discussions regarding the fall 2018 EcoMon cruise and to Dr. Irene Andreu for SEM assistance. Dr. Paul E. Hargraves provided some insights on diatom taxonomy. We acknowledge the dedication of the crew of the R/V Sharp during a particularly First report of an Ansanella granifera bloom in Cuban waters, Caribbean region Fig. 1. Map of the study area showing the location where the dinoflagellate bloom o ccurred in southeastern Cuba. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have been associated with fish and shellfish kills, ecosystem damage, human Fig. 3. Light microscopy images of fixed cells of Ansanella granifera. 4). Ansanella granifera is a dinoflagellate belonging to the family Suessiaceae (order Suessiales) that was recently described from Korea [5]. To our knowledge, the occurrence in waters from southeastern Cuba represents the firs Dolichospermum spiroides blooms in a man-made lake in Sarawak, Borneo pond in Serian, Sarawak, and co-existed with a Microcystis bloom. However, the species and cell density for both genera were not recorded [3]. This is the first documented report of D. spiroides in Sarawak waters. The occurrence An online platform (GEE App) for Trophic State Index monitoring of inland waters in Latin America Fig. 1. a) The dark gray region shows the Paraná River Basin in Brazil; b) Water masses within Paraná River Basin palette according to the Chl-a concentration average for 2020. The red rectangle indica Remote sensing of recurrent cyano HABs in Patos Lagoon, Brazil Fig. 1. Map of Patos Lagoon (southernmost part of Brazil) taken from [7]. Black circles indicate the four sites chosen forNDCI values retrieval [4]. Every austral summer, dense surface growth and accumulations of cyanobacteria threaten ation promoting the prevalence and duration of cyanoHABs. More detailed information will be published soon adding modeling tools to locate dominant cyanoHAB accumulation sites within the PL, and their potential exportation to the ocean. Future studies are needed to discriminate between local effects Blooms of Akashiwo sanguinea (Dinophyceae) in a tropical estuary in northeastern Brazil We report an inter-annual bloom of the unarmored dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea in a pristine estuary (Figure 1F) in Brazil. The estuarine section of the Serinhaém River, Camamu Bay is a species-rich ecosystem can affect the entire structure of a community due to changes in composition due to outcomes of biotic interactions with one species being benefited while another one is harmed. The spatial location of SE10 within an area of potential disturbance driven by urban tributaries alters ecological stoichi Can artisan fishermen help to prevent HABs intoxication? A science communi cation project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of the main harmful microalgae genera in Brazilian coastal waters. These genera may induce different poisoning syndromes: amnesic shellfish poisoning ( Authors Raquel AF Neves, Júlia Torres, Nathália Rodrigues & Clarissa Naveira, Graduate Program in Neotropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO), Research Group in Experimental and Applied Aquatic Ecology, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Avenida Pasteur 458-307 Rio de Janeiro- RJ, CEP The VIII Workshop the Group HarmAlfonso Vidal (Colombia). Their of dediconsider it urgent to finalize The VIIIofWorkshop of the Group Harmful Algal Blooms the Caribbean (ANCA) of a regional ful AlgalIOCARIBE Blooms of (Intergovernmental the Caribbean catedOceanographic work contributedCommission sig Aotearoa/New Zealand Japan collaboration strengthened through HAB research at Cawthron Institute the 16th Young Researchers Award from the Japanese Society of Phycology for his research on harmful algae in Japan. Acknowledgements The collaboration between New Zealand and Japan has been continued ANNOUNCEMENT: The International Phytoplankton Intercalibration The International Phytoplankton Intercalibration (IPI) Proficiency Testing scheme in abundance and composition of marine microalgae programme 2021 is now open for registration for 2021 through www.iphyi.org. The schedule for 2021 and all The 19th International Conference on Harmful Algae 2021 (ICHA2021) is going virtual! We appreciate the responses that many of you provided in the recent survey which indicated that 85% of respondents will participate in a virtual meeting. The abstract submission deadline is 9 April 2021. Details on In memoriam Maria Esther Angélica Meave del Castillo (1960-2020) María Esther Meave (who also received the nickname Teté or Tey by many of her friends) was born in Mexico city, Mexico (September 5th, 1960) and passed away on December 6th, 2020, after contracting COVID-19. She earned her Master and Leif Bolding, graphic designer and webmaster at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, has been an unsung hero of Harmful Algae News. Working behind the scenes since 2000 as responsible for the layout of each issue. Leif retires at the end of April 2021. He will have plenty of