Harmful Algal Information System: Event ES-02-001

General Information

Event name:	ES-02-001
Country:	SPAIN
Nature of the harmful event:	Seafood toxins
Event directly affected:
Toxicity detected:	Yes (Approximate range: DSP positive.)
Associated syndrome:	DSP
Unexplained toxicity:	No
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector):
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme:	Yes (Monitoring Programme of the Centro de Control do Medio Mariño)
Event occurred before in this location:	Yes (The DSP episodes caused by Dinophysis acuminata are a recurrent phenomenom in the Galician Rías with more or less incidence depending on the year.)
Individuals to contact:	MANEIRO, Juan , PAZOS, Yolanda , SALGADO, Covadonga

Location & Date

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Location:	Latitude: 43.372167, Longitude: -8.242833
General location information:	Ría de Ribadeo, Estuary of Foz, Ría de O Barq, Galicia, NW Spain. HAB Area code(s): ES-05
Additional location information:	43º 44' - 42º 46. 50' N; 07º 02' - 09º 03' W. The affected area is dedicated to intensive mussel cultivation in rafts and to a high production of other molluscs in natural banks: clams, cockes, oyster and scallops are the main species exploited.
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd):	Event Date:2002-04-29 Start: 2002-04-25, End: 2002-05-28
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information:

Microalgae

Causative organism known:	Yes
Causative Species/Genus:	Dinophysis acuminata (2,080 cells/L) 43º 22.33' N; 08º 14.57' W (St. L4) on 29/04/02
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:	Chaetoceros perpusillum (20,880 cells/L) 43º 22.33' N; 08º 14.57' W (St. L4) on 29/04/02 Lingulodinium polyedra (20,880 cells/L) Scrippsiella trochoidea (15,660 cells/L)
Chlorophyll concentration, if known:	1,125 µg/L Chlª. µg/l
Additional bloom information:
Event-related bibliography:

Environmental Conditions

Weather:		Turbidity (NTU):		Wind direction:	NW
Stratified water:	No	Oxygen content (nL/L):		Wind velocity:	33
Temperature (°C):	14.2 - 15.5	Oxygen saturation %:		Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m):		Salinity:	30.6 - 35.	Current Velocity:	0

Nutrient information:

AMONIUM: 0.47-0.66 mg/l
NITRATE: 0.18-0.22 mg/l
NITRITE: 0.07-0.11 mg/l
PHOSPHATE: 0.27-0.29 mg/l

Temperature Range During Event:

Max: 15 °C, Min: 12 °C

Salinity Range During Event:

Max: 37, Min: 27

Bloom location in the water column:

Growth:

In situ

Growth Comments

Additional Environmental information:

Wind velocity: 33 Km/h.

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin	Toxin type	Toxin details	Max. concentration	Assay type
Raft cultured mussel (Mytilus galloprovincial	Okadaic Acid		Positive	Bioassay-Mouse
Wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis)	Okadaic Acid	OA eq		LC

Kit used: No

Type of kit used:

Additional information:

The official detection method is by mouse bioassay: Yasumoto et al., Seafood toxins, 1984, 207-214. Some samples are analyzed by HPLC: Lee et al., Agric. Biol. Chem., 1987, 51, 877.

Economic losses:

Not evaluated.

Management decision:

Harvesting was closed in cluture areas affected. Wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) are used as bioindicator for infaunal molluscs, then when assay are possitive for this specie, infaunal molluscs are closed in that area.

Additional harmful effect information:

Closures due to the presence of toxicity in molluscs is usual in the area and resource exploitation strategies allows to face these closures without great problems.