General Information

Event name: US-04-002
Country: UNITED STATES
Nature of the harmful event:
Seafood toxins
Event directly affected:
Shellfish
Toxicity detected: Yes (Approximate range: 99-177)
Associated syndrome: PSP
Unexplained toxicity: No
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector): oysters from long lines in an aquaculture operation.
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme: Yes (Kachemak Bay East Monitoring Program)
Event occurred before in this location: Yes (Within the last three years this area is subject to late summer increases in toxicities and therefore is the first site in Kachemak Bay that become infected.)
Individuals to contact: OSTASZ, Michael J.

Location & Date

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Location: Latitude: 59.007778, Longitude: -151.008889
General location information: Kachemak Bay East, s/se of Homer, AK, Alaska
HAB Area code(s): US-25
Additional location information:
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd): Start: 2004-06-08,
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information: 8/5/04 first showed a mussel intoxication at 255 ug/100 for PSP and following that oysters showed values of 99, and 170 ug/100 of PSP. Previous values came from <33 to 62 to the present values of 99 and 170 within three weeks for oysters to develop the PSP toxicity.

Microalgae

Causative organism known: Yes
Causative Species/Genus: Alexandrium spp. ( cells/L)
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:
Chlorophyll concentration, if known: µg/l
Additional bloom information:
Event-related bibliography:

Environmental Conditions

Weather: Turbidity (NTU): Wind direction:
Stratified water: No Oxygen content (nL/L): Wind velocity:
Temperature (°C): Oxygen saturation %: Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m): Salinity: Current Velocity: 0
Nutrient information:
Temperature Range During Event: Max: °C, Min: °C
Salinity Range During Event:
Bloom location in the water column:
Growth:
Growth Comments
Additional Environmental information:

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin Toxin type Toxin details Max. concentration Assay type
Oysters Saxitoxins STX eq 177 Bioassay-Mouse
Kit used: No Type of kit used:
Additional information: Bioassay
Economic losses: Major oyster production area in Southcentral Alaska closed until three samples of <80 ug/100 gms can be obtained from this growing area.
Management decision: Closed area to all commercial harvest of all shellfish and issue a press release.
Additional harmful effect information:
IOC/UNESCO ISSHA
IOC/UNESCO ICES PICES