Fighting bloom and gloom

For tourists with a taste for clams and mussels, many of New England's seaside eateries are slowly returning to normal after the worst outbreak of toxic marine algae in more than 30 years. The algae made shellfish unfit to eat.

But for scientists, the unusually large bloom raised an important question: Did this event push these tiny organisms farther south than their usual range, making an even larger area of shellfish beds vulnerable to future algae blooms?

Now, with new federal money in hand, researchers here at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are preparing to answer that question - opening a new front in a global scientific assault on so-called "red tides." From Cape Cod, Mass. to Cape Town, South Africa, and coastal regions on at least three other continents, algal blooms are receiving scrutiny as never before. Scientists are expanding research beyond the organisms' basic biology to look for ways to track and forecast their emergence, their effects on the health and livelihoods of coastal residents, and their economic impact, which runs into the tens of millions of dollars in the United States alone.

In the US, researchers are putting the finishing touches on a 10-year research blueprint that places increased emphasis on giving federal, state, and local officials the forecasting and tracking tools needed to protect public health and marine habitats. The blueprint also aims to tease out the subtler effects of the toxins on human health. Armed with new genetic tools, researchers plan to develop sensors to help them identify subtle differences between subgroups of algae within the same species. Shifts in these subgroups - some toxic, some not - could have a profound effect on the level of toxins present during blooms.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is not waiting for the blueprint. Earlier this month, it handed a $540,000 check to researchers here at WHOI to help answer whether the algae, known as Alexandrium fundyense, is indeed spreading.

Globally, scientists are gearing up to study blooms that occur where nutrient-rich waters well up from the deep ocean along the Pacific coasts of North and South America and the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Spain. It's part of a long-term program to focus on several categories of coastline and conditions that consistently endure harmful algae blooms. Food in upwelling waters support some of the most productive fisheries in the world. The regions also are subject to harmful algae blooms that threaten those fisheries.

"It's a really exciting time," offers Dennis McGillicuddy, a WHOI scientist who models blooms and the oceanographic conditions that affect them. With new technologies and networks of ocean sensors in the pipeline, "I'm optimistic about what the future holds in being able to understand and predict these blooms with better accuracy."

Ironically, despite widespread recognition that the number of harmful algae-bloom outbreaks is increasing, researchers and public-health officials have no place to go for a national snapshot of the blooms in progress.

This year, blooms have also struck sections of the California and Oregon coasts, as well as Florida's Gulf Coast, according to Ben Sherman, a spokesman for NOAA's Sea Grant program. Texas has experienced a nontoxic bloom.

But nationwide information on outbreaks is largely culled after the fact, notes Donald Anderson, a marine biologist at WHOI who focuses his research on harmful algae blooms. "Current information is gathered through the grapevine," he says.

Although "red tide" has become a generic moniker for algae blooms, the outbreaks can turn seawater into something more akin to Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Florida's Gulf Coast and Chesapeake Bay have "mahogany" tides. Blooms off Southeast Asia can tint coastal waters in shades of green or red. Some blooms don't discolor water at all.

Indeed, researchers say, the sheer variety of toxic algae can be daunting. Anyone working in the field is virtually guaranteed to be working on the frontier of research "because there are so many different organisms," says Quay Dortch, coordinator for NOAA's harmful algal blooms program. "Just about the time we think we understand one, something new pops up. That's been part of the frustration."

Page: 1 | 2