October 2010 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 11.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL FISHING NEWS Commercial Fishing News
New NOAA Program Awards $1 Million to Prevent and Control Harmful Algal Blooms Impacting Atlantic Coastal Communities
Scientists working on methods to pre- vent and control harmful algal blooms im- pacting coastal communities along the At- lantic coast have been awarded more than $1 million for the first year of an anticipated $2 million, multi-year NOAA research grant. This funding supports three projects under the newly initiated Prevention, Control and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms program. Many types of algae are present in At- lantic waters. While most are non-threaten- ing, some are harmful to the marine environ- ment, coastal economies and can even cause serious human illnesses. Advances in moni- toring and forecasting give an early warning of impending blooms but impacted communi- ties and businesses have requested new methods to combat harmful algal species and their costly impacts. The three newly an- nounced projects tackle this challenge by developing methods to prevent harmful blooms from forming and to control or reduce existing blooms or bloom impacts. NOAA’s new program will transition the best of these methods into new coastal resource manage- ment strategies.
One of the three projects, to be led by Don Anderson, Ph.D., of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will test a strat- egy to reduce or possibly eliminate toxic blooms of the New England alga Alexandrium fundyense in estuaries and bays. This strat- egy is of great interest in the region as Alexandrium blooms now routinely force clo- sures of economically important shellfish- eries. Researchers will study whether smoth- ering the organisms’ dormant seed-like cysts with thin layers of bottom sediment will re- duce the number of newly hatched cells that can get into the water column and initiate a bloom. This approach could be successful in limiting the size of the blooms and shortening the duration of toxicity. Repeated treatments over time may also ultimately prevent the formation of blooms.
Two additional projects will focus on strategies to prevent or control blooms of other harmful algal species in the Mid-Atlan- tic region. One team, led by Kathryn Coyne, Ph.D., of the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, will inves- tigate whether a promising chemical isolated from a naturally occurring bacterium can be
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used to selectively kill cells or inhibit toxin production of Karlodinium veneficum, Prorocentrum minimum and other common harmful algal species that kill hatchery shell- fish, produce large fish kills and lead to seagrass die-offs in mid-Atlantic coastal waters. Investigations may lead to a natural product that gives managers a direct way to control or eliminate harmful algal blooms. Another team, led by Allen Place, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, will test the efficiency of using suspended clays to re- move toxic blooms of Microcystis aeruginosa from the water. The team of re- searchers will also assess whether this tech- nique will have an impact on submerged aquatic vegetation, clams and fish. “Great strides have been made toward understanding why blooms occur as well as improvements in predicting their occurrence and in monitoring,” said Maryland Depart- ment of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin. “We are now able to envision situa- tions where we can limit or control blooms, thereby limiting their impacts on human health and Bay resources. We are very ex- cited to be part of this initial research, and to work with NOAA and our other partners to help make this vision a reality.”
This program is authorized by the Harm- ful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 and 2004. PCMHAB is designed to encourage the development of promising technologies and strategies to end-users to protect fisheries, coastal re- sources and public health.
“Harmful algal blooms pose a real and significant threat to humans, animals and the coastal environment,” said Russell Callender, acting director of NOAA’s Na- tional Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the office that fulfills NOAA responsibilities under the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act. “The new PCMHAB program adds an important focus on developing proactive management solu- tions so that one day we may even be able to stop some blooms before they start.”
U.S. and Costa Rican Ocean Scientists Share Sweden’s 2010 Göteborg Award for Sustainable Development
NOAA Fisheries Scientist Honored for Work on Large Marine Ecosystems Two ocean scientists who have contrib-
uted in different ways to solutions for sus- tainable use of the oceans will receive The Göteborg Award for Sustainable Develop- ment in 2010. The monetary prize, considered by some the environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize, will be divided equally between Ken Sherman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for his work on Large Marine Ecosystems and Randall Arauz from Costa Rica for his cam- paign against shark finning.
The Göteborg Award for Sustainable Development was founded in 1999 by the City of Göteborg and several businesses to stimulate and recognize strategic work in sustainable development, nationally and in- ternationally. The award, one million Swed- ish crowns or approximately $ 130,000 U.S., is administered by a coalition of the City of Göteborg and twelve companies. It will be presented to Sherman and Arauz in Göteborg on November 17.
“Oceans are essential to existence of all life on Earth, and yet perhaps mankind’s most ruthless exploitation is taking place in the seas through overfishing, pollution and other environmental impacts that damage biological diversity and the very basis for life both underwater and for humans on land,” the award announcement states. Kenneth Sherman is the director of the Office of Marine Ecosystems Studies, NOAA Fisheries Service, and director of the Narragansett (RI) Laboratory, part of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), headquartered in Woods Hole, MA. He is also an adjunct professor of ocean- ography in the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.
In announcing the award recipients, the committee noted that Sherman, as an ocean- ographer and marine biologist, had made it his life’s work to promote coordinated and sustainable use of marine resources and marine environments, primarily by develop- ing the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) concept, which creates natural units that emrbace socioeconomic factors and ecologi- cal considerations.
“Ken Sherman’s LME model is excep- tional because it’s built on a holistic view with a system perspective,” the award committee noted. “Ken Sherman has worked tirelessly for decades, and become more and more successful in generating acceptance for the concept among scientists and politicians. Today the LME concept is generally ac- cepted around the world and has a global network of 64 LME areas.”
Eleven of the 64 LMEs are in U.S. waters and include the Gulf of Alaska, California Current, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Southeast U.S. Continental Shelf (from the Straits of Florida to Cape Hatteras, N.C.), and the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf (from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian border, in- cluding the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank). “The restructuring of Swedish work on ocean environments and fishing administra- tion, under preparation now, is in perfect sync with Ken Sherman’s ideas on the need for a comprehensive take on fish stocks and fishing, environmental impact and socioeco- nomic factors as well as better coordination and integration of fresh water, coastal and oceanic issues,” the award committee noted,
Continued on Page 12.
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