Simple Plants With Toxic Implications

HAB Impacts Are Far Reaching

Harmful algal bloom (HAB) events can be very bad for us. People who eat fish or shellfish from waters experiencing blooms can become very ill and can even die. In addition to the health impacts, HABs have economic and cultural implications as well. They can cause lost revenue for coastal economies dependent on seafood harvest or tourism and disruption of subsistence activities. In fact, coastal HAB events have been estimated to result in economic impacts in the United States of at least $82 million each year.

These impacts stress the importance of understanding HABs and developing tools to help predict, control, and prevent the events.

A Legislative Mandate

In December 2004, the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-456) was signed into law. This Act, originally passed in 1998, reaffirms and expands the mandate for NOAA to advance scientific understanding and detection, monitoring, assessment, and prediction of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and hypoxia (low oxygen).

The Act calls for development of programs to research methods of prevention, control, and mitigation of HABs and establishes an interagency task force to follow progress on these issues.

Tools and technologies being developed under the Act are helping coastal managers lessen or prevent impacts on human health and coastal resources.

Understanding HABs Where They Occur

Although all coastal states experience harmful algal blooms, different organisms live in different places and cause different problems. Other factors, such as the structure of the coast, runoff, oceanography, and other organisms in the water, can also change the scope and severity of HAB impacts.

To address these differences, NOS takes a regional approach in developing strategies for HAB management.  By developing specific tools and information for areas of the country, including the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Mid-Atlantic/Southeast, and Caribbean/Pacific Islands, NOS is able to advance management capabilities in dealing with all major HAB threats.

HABs and Climate Change

Climate is always changing. Because the growth, toxicity, and distribution of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species are all tied to the environment, changes in climate can change the occurrence, severity, and impacts of HAB events.

To understand how future climate changes may impact HABs, the Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research supports projects addressing the impacts of climate change on HABs in estuarine, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems.  Climate change will largely manifest as regional changes, which closely aligns with NOS’s regional approach to its research. This knowledge will be critical to developing strategies for management of HABs in already vulnerable coastal and marine areas.

Research to Combat HABs

The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is leading NOAA efforts to research and understand harmful algal blooms (HABs), to develop tools to combat these toxic tides.

For example, NCCOS’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Research Program is producing new methods to detect HABs and their toxins, to understand HAB dynamics, to develop HAB forecasts, and to predict and reduce impacts on people and ecosystems. The NOAA Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms Research Program  is expanding efforts to monitor waters and shellfish, to help more coastal communities know when they are at risk and how to respond.

Preventing HABs Before They Happen

The Prevention, Control, and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms (PCM HAB) Research Program transitions promising prevention, control, and mitigation technologies and strategies to coastal managers.  PCM HAB also assesses the social and economic costs of HAB events and the costs and benefits of mitigation strategies, to help managers develop cost-effective management strategies.

The transfer of such technology can yield many benefits for the public, including healthier fisheries and ecosystems, fewer impacts of blooms on humans and the environment, and reductions in nuisance or harmful accumulation of algae. 

Identifying and Monitoring HABs

Scientists, such as those at the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, use satellites to collect data on ocean color in order to determine the amount of live biomass (e.g. phytoplankton) in the ocean and to identify and track algal blooms and track plumes. Scientists combine this satellite data with data collected by research vessels to gain a better understanding of the occurrence, trajectory, and potential landfall of a bloom. This information can then be passed on to coastal managers and state agencies, so that strategies to deal with an impending bloom can be put in to place.

Forecasting HABs

Advance warning of harmful algal blooms (HABs) increases the options for managing these events. NOAA’s HAB Operational Forecast System, run out of the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, uses satellite imagery, field observations, and buoy data to determine the location, extent, and potential for development or movement of HABs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Conditions, including information on potential or confirmed harmful bloom events, chlorophyll levels, and forecasted winds, are posted as HAB Bulletins online twice a week during the bloom season. The bulletins also provide forecasts for potential human impacts associated with confirmed harmful blooms, bloom sizes, movement, intensification, and the potential for bloom formation.

HAB Response

When harmful algal bloom (HAB) events occur, NOS is there to help coastal states. The Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research HAB Response Event Program, for example, provides immediate assistance for managing events by offering technology and expertise, providing supplemental financial support for investigating events, and ensuring events are properly documented. The Program assesses human health risks, identifies causes of marine mammal mortalities, offers training opportunities for managers, and establishes baseline conditions for new or re-emerging HABs.

The HAB Analytical Response Team, part of the Marine Biotoxins Program, provides scientific guidance and identification of harmful algae and their toxins during suspected HABs, during marine animal mortality events, and during human poisonings.