Prevention, Control and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms A Research Plan Submitted to the United States Congress September 2001 by the National Sea Grant College Program Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Department of Commerce Table of Contents Executive Summary........................................................................................................................i Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Program Themes Detection and Characterization of Harmful Algal Blooms: Organisms..............................4 Detection and Characterization of Harmful Algal Blooms: Toxins.....................................7 Prevention and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Bloom Impacts..............................................9 Control of Harmful Algal Blooms.........................................................................................13 Socioeconomic Impacts of Harmful Algal Blooms ..............................................................17 Monitoring And Prediction of Harmful Algal Blooms........................................................20 Outreach and Education Related to Harmful Algal Blooms..............................................23 References.....................................................................................................................................25 Workshop Participants ...............................................................................................................27 Executive Summary Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been To achieve this goal will require an increasing in prevalence in the United States for the understanding of the many factors that regulate the past 30 years to the point where they occur along dynamics of HABs, one of the emphases of the most of our coastlines and are common in many ongoing Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful places. The impacts of these blooms are felt in many Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) research program, and the ways: human health is placed at risk; ecosystems are manner in which they cause harm; however, that altered; marine mammals are injured or killed; and knowledge by itself does not provide protection. the fishing, aquaculture, and recreation industries Complementary management strategies are needed suffer substantial economic losses. The economic that will reduce the impacts of HABs by either impacts of HABs in the U.S. for the period 1987- prevention – avoiding the occurrence of blooms or 1992 have been estimated conservatively at $49 reducing their extent; mitigation – minimizing HAB million annually. Other single HAB events may impacts on human health, living resources, and approach or even exceed those costs, for example the coastal economies when they do occur; or by control 1976 red tide event in New Jersey estimated to have – actions that directly reduce or contain the bloom caused losses of about $1 billion in 2000 dollars. population. If this ambitious effort is to be successful in reducing HAB impacts, there will need to be a The recent National Science and Technology comprehensive program with long-term fiscal support Council (NSTC) report, National Assessment of and participation not only by Sea Grant, but also by Harmful Algal Blooms in U.S. Waters, observed other offices within NOAA, and other Federal and “there are currently no national research initiatives to state agencies. Given that we are finally reaching the promote efforts in prevention, control, and mitigation stage where it may soon be possible to actually (PCM) of HABs and their impacts. Targeted funding impact the course of blooms in the field, there is a is needed for a program focused on prevention, compelling argument to move forward. control, and mitigation and should be separate from, and complement, funding for ECOHAB or other Detection and Characterization of ecology programs.” Congress, in the FY 2001 Harmful Algal Blooms: Organisms Department of Commerce Appropriations Conference Report, directed the National Oceanic Detection of harmful algal species in discrete and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea water samples is critical to understanding the Grant College Program “to develop a research plan to phenomenon of harmful algal blooms and in turn is address the causes of harmful algal blooms and a essential for the prevention, control, and mitigation of prevention and monitoring program.” such events. Historically, detection of these organisms has relied on microscopic methods for This report, Prevention, Control and Mitigation distinguishing morphological characters, but current of Harmful Algal Blooms: A Research Plan, outlines advances in the development of molecular probes are a forward-looking research program that provides the enabling detection of lower concentrations of cells. means for academic, government, and industry These have the potential to allow for discrimination scientists and engineers to combine their efforts with of unique strains and even for assessment of the those of coastal communities and managers in order metabolic activity of target species. Remote sensing to lessen the impacts of HABs on our Nation’s techniques, including satellite and airplane coasts. The program directly addresses prevention, overflights, as well as in situ devices, hold great control, and mitigation of HABs by integrating promise for detecting selected taxa. research findings into effective HAB management strategies, with the following goal: Goal: Improve identification, detection, and quantification of harmful algal species / strains and their presence in coastal ecosystems in order to To reduce the impacts of harmful algal blooms on public health, the economy, and coastal provide accurate and timely information on the ecosystems occurrence of HAB species. i Objectives: are required to regulate harvesting of shellfish, but • Develop rapid and effective methods for the decisions are often made in the absence of identification, detection, and enumeration of information about how shellfish accumulate and harmful algae. depurate toxins or data about a particular toxic event. • Determine the relationship between cell Similarly, HABs cause mortality of fish, birds, numbers and toxin level or concentration. marine mammals, and turtles, but little is known • Develop data sets over large temporal and about the mechanisms by which toxins cause spatial scales to support modeling and mortality, how this impacts fisheries or endangered prediction of HABs. species, and how the impacts can be minimized. Human activities can facilitate the occurrence and spread of HABs, for example through increased Detection and Characterization of nutrient inputs as a result of changes in land-use Harmful Algal Blooms: Toxins patterns or changes in hydrology. HAB species can be transported to new areas in ballast water or in live The 1993 report, Marine Biotoxins and Harmful shellfish, where they may thrive and threaten human Algae: A National Plan, concluded that the lack of and ecosystem health. sensitive assays and specific toxin standards were the major impediment to effective management of Goals: Ensure the public can use and enjoy coastal harmful algal blooms. It must be recognized that the waters safely, free from exposure to HABs, thereby hazard associated with toxic blooms is the toxin. The protecting public health and economic vitality; occurrence of the organism itself is not necessarily a Ensure a safe and sustainable seafood supply by predictive measure of its harmful effects. Modern developing fisheries and aquaculture management instrument methods offer new potential in the strategies to minimize the impacts of HABs; Provide detection and identification of trace amounts of information and tools so that coastal managers and individual toxins. However, accurate information on policy makers can consider HABs in their decision- the full spectrum of effects, and the amount of toxin making processes at local and regional levels; leading to these effects is generally unavailable for Prevent the spread or enhancement of HABs from many toxins. Susceptible populations, such as the human activities. very young, the very old, and the immuno- compromised, need to be identified to ensure the Objectives: protection of the public health and marine resources. • Evaluate the role of habitat alteration (e.g. Finally, these problems must be investigated for the increased nutrient loading resulting from full spectrum of possible food sources, including changes in land-use practices, altered organisms consumed by cultural and ethnic hydrology, or reduced shellfish populations) minorities. in increasing occurrence of HABs, and develop techniques and policies to reverse Goal: Identify and characterize toxins and their the trend. effects on human and coastal ecosystem health. • Develop methods to reduce the likelihood of HABs being initiated due to transport of Objectives: cells or resting stages in ballast water or live • Characterize the toxins and metabolites of organisms (primarily shellfish) and by HAB species. sediment dredging. • Develop sensitive and specific detection • Identify the mechanisms by which HABs methods and toxin standards. harm higher trophic levels, and develop • Determine the effects of HAB toxins on techniques to protect shellfish and fish marine resources and public health. aquaculture. • Develop methods and policies to protect Prevention and Mitigation of Harmful human health, and ensure the information Algal Bloom Impacts reaches the public and resource managers in the most useful form. HABs can have a strong influence on utilization • Facilitate the development of procedures for of our natural resources, for example by causing rapid regional response to HAB events. human illness and death from consumption of shellfish that have become toxic from ingestion of toxic algae. To protect human health, state agencies ii Control of Harmful Algal Blooms extent of public and industry reactions to HABs, the interactions among various market sectors, and to Human efforts to control insects, diseases, and develop methods of reporting that provide some fungi are a common agricultural practice on land, and consistency from different locales. control of freshwater HABs has been a significant component of public utility management of drinking, Goals: Improve understanding of public and agricultural, and recreational water supplies. commercial reactions to HABs in order to manage However, attempts to control HABs in the marine bloom events for maximum safety and minimum environment have been minimal in the United States, disruption; Improve the ability of policy makers and presumably because of over-riding concerns about managers to manage HABs by taking the true costs cost, effectiveness, and environmental impacts, and into account. there has been little research to develop more effective methods. However, bloom control efforts Objectives: need not be massive and worrisome; not all blooms • Assess the nature of public and commercial are large in scale – many are small and localized. sector reactions to HAB events and use that Approaches to direct bloom intervention fall into understanding to guide the responses of three categories: mechanical, physical/chemical, and public officials. biological control. • Analyze the true costs associated with HAB events in order to provide a better basis for Goal: Develop environmentally acceptable strategies decision-making. for direct intervention in ongoing HAB events for the purpose of eliminating toxic or harmful cells or Monitoring And Prediction of Harmful inhibiting their growth. Algal Blooms Objectives: The widespread expansion of HABs throughout • Develop effective mechanical bloom control U.S. coastal waters has led to increasing stress on strategies. government agencies responsible for protecting • Identify effective chemical control methods public health and providing timely, accurate that have minimal impact on non-target information to citizens, policymakers and businesses organisms, and evaluate the effects of any dependent on the health of these waters. State and toxins released from dying HAB cells. local agencies that did not need to monitor or once • Assess the effectiveness of clays in monitored their waters for one or two potentially flocculating and removing HAB cells from dangerous species have been forced to expand the water column for various blooms species monitoring efforts with significantly raised costs. and hydrographic regimes, and evaluate the The inability to accurately predict the onset of many environmental impacts. blooms before they occur can be detrimental to • Determine whether biological control of businesses in these regions, among them commercial HABs is feasible, and evaluate the harvesters, aquaculturists, recreational fishermen, specificity and environmental impact of any seafood handlers and those in the tourism industry. proposed agents. Clearly, there is a strong need for a monitoring and detection system that will enable local, state, and Socioeconomic Impacts of Harmful Algal federal agencies to work together in developing early Blooms warning systems and providing accurate forecasts on bloom occurrence, development, and transport – such Policy and decision makers must take the social capabilities will make it possible to develop realistic and economic costs of HAB events into mitigation strategies that minimize the risks to human consideration. For example, closure of a body of health and reduce the economic impacts. water or beach due to HAB-related fish kills and toxic aerosols can have substantial effects on tourism Goals: Develop a regionally based, nationally and fishing. Negative public reaction to HAB events cohesive HAB monitoring program; Provide can be severe and prolonged, creating heavy forecasts to predict bloom events with a 1-5 day lead pressures on management agencies and increasing time to public health and resource managers; Develop economic losses. In order for managers to make national and regional contingency plans with funding better decisions on how to manage blooms, additional so that the response to HAB events can be rapid and research is needed to understand the nature and effective. iii Objectives: • Establish a regionally based, nationally cohesive monitoring program. • Develop forecasting methods for blooms. • Prepare contingency and rapid response plans and develop a regional communications network. • Develop, test, and implement new monitoring tools, including the identification of sentinel species. • Apply data assimilation and modeling to HAB monitoring and forecasting. Outreach and Education Related to Harmful Algal Blooms Outreach and public education are an integral part of the Prevention, Control, and Mitigation of HABs Research Program, particularly important since the primary audience is not the research community. As was made clear once again during the recent Pfiesteria outbreaks in the mid-Atlantic, public perceptions of risk and the actions they take in response can have major economic impacts, over and above the direct impacts of HABs. It is critical that research results be delivered accurately and in a timely manner so as to increase public confidence and the utility of the results to resource managers. Education represents a long-term delivery tool to increase public understanding of extreme environmental events such as HABs and their health effects on humans and aquatic ecosystems. The creation of new monitoring capabilities with information being available on a real-time basis presents a challenge to be sure the public is not overwhelmed, but instead is provided with tools that will help to interpret the information. In addition, there is a great deal of existing information that needs to be transferred to the public and management communities. Goal: Ensure that the results of the HAB prevention, control, and mitigation research program are delivered in a timely manner in a form appropriate to the audience. Objective: • Ensure that the outreach efforts and materials are targeted appropriately to the various end users of the information: concerned citizens and constituents; the business and industry sector; agencies and managers; government at all levels; and the research community. iv Introduction Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been increasing in prevalence in the United States for the past 30 years to the point where they occur along most of our coastlines and are common in many places. The impacts of these blooms are felt in many ways: human health is placed at risk; ecosystems are altered; marine mammals are injured or killed; and the fishing, aquaculture, and recreation industries suffer economic losses. The recent National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) report, National Assessment of Harmful Algal Blooms in U.S. Waters, stated “there appears to have been a major world-wide expansion in the frequency, geographic extent, and magnitude of HAB events and in the number of HAB species involved.” The challenge for the research community is to increase our understanding of harmful algal blooms and provide the tools to enable coastal communities and managers to reduce the impact of these events. Congress, in the FY 2001 Department of Commerce Appropriations Conference Report, directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program “to develop a research plan to address the causes of harmful algal blooms and a prevention and monitoring program and submit it to the Committees on Appropriations by June 30, 2001.” Over the past decade, there have been several reports dealing with how to better understand and respond to the harmful algal bloom issue (see sidebar). The seriousness of the problem has been examined in detail and a strong case for action has been established. The report, Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algae: A National Plan, identified the major impediments to progress in this area and provided a framework for action to be coordinated across several Federal and state agencies. The interagency Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) research program, with the goal “To develop an understanding of the population dynamics and trophic impacts of harmful algal species which can be used as a basis for Previous reports on harmful algal blooms minimizing their adverse effects on the economy, in the United States public health, and marine ecosystems,” was a direct Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algae: A outgrowth of those planning efforts. ECOHAB has National Plan (1993) made substantial progress toward this goal and has ECOHAB, The Ecology and Oceanography initiated regional studies and targeted projects to of Harmful Algal Blooms: A National investigate and model the growth and toxin dynamics Research Agenda (1995) Harmful Algal Blooms in Coastal Waters: of the major toxic species along the U.S. coast. Options for Prevention, Control and Mitigation (1997) However, as two recent reports, Harmful Algal National Harmful Algal Bloom Research Blooms in Coastal Waters: Options for Prevention, And Monitoring Strategy: An Initial Control and Mitigation and the National Assessment Focus On Pfiesteria, Fish Lesions, Fish Kills And Public Health (1997) of Harmful Algal Blooms in U.S. Waters, make clear, National Assessment of Harmful Algal we must now “focus our goals and research expertise Blooms in U.S. Waters (2000) toward developing techniques for detecting and Estimated Annual Economic Impacts from reducing the impacts of these events.” There is now a Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the critical need for a focused research program to directly United States (2000) address prevention, control, and mitigation (PCM) of 1 harmful algal blooms, a program that would be the complement of the ECOHAB program and integrate its research findings into effective HAB management strategies, with the following goal: Goal: To reduce the impacts of harmful algal blooms on public health, the economy, and coastal ecosystems To achieve this goal will require an understanding of the many factors that regulate the dynamics of HABs, one of the emphases of the ECOHAB program, and the manner in which they cause harm; however, that knowledge by itself does not provide protection. Management strategies are needed that will reduce the impacts of HABs by either prevention – avoiding the occurrence of blooms or reducing their extent; mitigation – minimizing HAB impacts on human health, living resources, and coastal economies when they do occur; or by control – actions that directly reduce or contain the bloom population. Examples of prevention strategies might include reducing pollution inputs to a region in an effort to decrease the number or size of bloom events, or using new technologies to prevent the transport of bloom organisms in ballast water from one coastal area to another. Examples of mitigation strategies might involve moving fish cages from the path of a HAB, or reducing the quantity of fish food to minimize their susceptibility to a bloom. Examples of control strategies might be direct application of chemicals or other biological control agents that kill or disrupt HAB cells during blooms. In the U.S., a significant constraint to the development of mitigation and control strategies has been the perception that we do not possess the skills, knowledge, or right to manipulate marine or freshwater environments on any significant scale. However, we are already doing exactly that. Physically or chemically altering the nature and integrity of aquatic systems, for example, by wetland destruction, nutrient enrichment, etc., has changed the environment in ways that have ultimately altered the species composition of the plankton. Indeed, this may be related to the apparent expansion in the number and frequency of HABs in the U.S. and worldwide. Direct intervention in HABs and attempts to mitigate their impacts should not be seen as a major departure from other coastal practices, but as an attempt to restore the balance that previously existed in coastal ecosystems. This report, Prevention, Control and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms: A Research Plan, outlines a forward-looking research program that complements the ECOHAB program by providing the means for academic, government, and industry scientists and engineers to combine their efforts with those of coastal communities and managers in order to lessen the impacts of HABs on our Nation’s coasts. The core of the program was developed at a workshop on “Prevention, Control, and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms,” held in May 2001 in Silver Spring, Maryland, with participation by the academic research community, state and Federal agencies, and outreach professionals. If this ambitious effort is to be successful in reducing HAB impacts, there will need to be a comprehensive program with long-term fiscal support and participation not only by Sea Grant, but also by other offices within NOAA, and other Federal and state agencies. Given that we are finally reaching the stage where it may soon be possible to 2 actually impact the course of blooms in the field, there is a compelling argument to move forward. The remainder of the report is organized according to the major themes developed during the recent workshop. For each theme, the goal is presented, major issues are outlined, and research needs to address those issues are identified. 3 Detection and Characterization of Harmful Algal Blooms: Organisms Detection of harmful algal species in discrete water samples is critical to understanding the phenomenon of harmful algal blooms and in turn is essential for the prevention, control, and mitigation of such events. Historically detection of these organisms has relied on microscopic methods for distinguishing morphological characters, although such approaches may not discriminate among toxic and non-toxic strains (e.g., Alexandrium tamarense, Pfiesteria piscicida) or genetically different strains that may be unique to some geographic area. Current advances in the development of molecular probes are bringing new sensitivity to organism detection. Probes may include lectins, antibodies, and methods to detect unique DNA or RNA targets (Scholin et al., in prep). These have the potential to allow for discrimination of unique strains and even for assessment of the metabolic activity of target species. Remote sensing techniques, including satellite and airplane overflights, as well as in situ devices, hold great promise for detecting selected taxa (Millie et al., 1997). These are active areas of research that promise rapid advances in the coming years. Within the framework of prevention, control and mitigation, further development and integration of these methods into monitoring, research, and management strategies is essential. It should be noted that detection of a HAB species is not equivalent to a taxonomic identification of the same organism. The identification of an organism relies on a variety of characteristics ranging from genetic to morphologic, which considered together allow a taxonomic designation to be assigned to an organism. Detection of an organism, on the other hand, generally employs one of the taxonomic characteristics considered to be most reliable, as well as effectively and efficiently applied (e.g. rDNA sequence), to reveal or demonstrate the presence of a taxon in a sample. For example, a molecular probe is used to detect a particular taxon in a sample, while the sequence information upon which the probe is based, generally along with morphological characteristics, are used to identify the organism. Goal: Improve identification, detection, and quantification of harmful algal species / strains and their presence in coastal ecosystems in order to provide accurate and timely information on the occurrence of HAB species. Issue: Rapid and effective methods for the identification, detection, and enumeration of harmful algae are not fully developed for all species. Thus, decision-makers do not have critical information needed during harmful algal events. Specific Research Needs • Improve our ability to quantify the abundance of harmful algal species/strains in natural populations. 4