Toxic Algea Bloom

Mariana Baxter
HS 3413
Dr. Wiginton



Pseudo-Nitzschia Algae,
TOXIC ALGAE


According to Promedmail, a lethal amount of Pseudo-nitzschia - made up of 8 different species of algae- has been found off the coast of Washington State. I found this interesting, because I love to eat sea vegetables and sea food; I consume them every day.

Pseudo- nitzschia can release deadly domoic acid; furthermore, Domoic acid can accumulate in the tissue of clams and shellfish; If humans ingest these foods, they can suffer from learning and memory deficiencies. The article did not mention acute symptoms to look out for, so I am including the information from another website: vomiting, short-term memory loss, abdominal cramps, severe headache, seizures and diarrhea. I think that it would be a good idea to research where sea food is grown, or where it is harvested for the rest of the year, because traces of this acid can find its way in to the kitchen.

Scientists and state officials have been fallowing and researching this event for 3 weeks: What they have found is that, back in 2003, the concentration of the poisonous algae was 200000 cells per liter, but now the concentration is 11 million cells per liter. They suspect that nutrients found in the Juan de Fuca eddy
feed these 8 different species of algae and can cause an over growth. Coastal waters are being checked twice a week for domoic acid by state officials, and , with the use of satellites, they are keeping track of the blooms location. I am glad that we have a team of experts fallowing this poisonous tide of algae. I am curious to know what the protocol would be if the bloom did reach the coast.

Furthermore - Barbara Hickey - an oceanographer from the University of Washington is working under a 12 million dollar grant devoted to tracking this bloom of poisonous algae; Hickey feels that, whether the bloom reaches our beaches will be determined by our forecast over the next few weeks: if we have an ocean storm, the poisonous algae could reach inland, but if we do not have an ocean storm, our lands could be safe. Hickey, feels that we are dealing with so much pseudo nitzschia because we had an unusually cool and wet August. According to the article, we never had a problem with Domoic acid until the late 1980’s; The article did not say why this is the case. I find this little bit of information rather interesting: what is causing this poisonous bloom? Is our advance in knowledge helping us to identify poisonous agents that had been over looked by past generations, or is this a new development? If it is a new development, then what is causing such a bloom of psuedo nitzschia?

References:


Mariana Baxter

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http://www.promedemail.org

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