General Information

Event name: US-16-030
Country: UNITED STATES
Nature of the harmful event:
High Phyto concentration
Event directly affected:
Toxicity detected: Yes (Approximate range: 0-9.3µg/g)
Associated syndrome:
Unexplained toxicity: No
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector):
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme: Yes (Jefferson Turner's Lab (UMASS) Buzzards Bay Phytoplankton Monitoring)
Event occurred before in this location: Yes
Individuals to contact: HICKEY, Mike , O'NEIL, Terry

Location & Date

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Location: Latitude: , Longitude:
General location information: Buzzards Bay, Nantuckey Sound ++, MA
HAB Area code(s): US-07
Additional location information: Precautionary closure to shellfishing affected all areas in Massachusets south of Cape Cod (a total of approximately 843,797 acres) 1st reported 10/6/16, areas closed to shellfishing on 10/7/16 and re-opened on 10/31/16
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd): First detection: 2016-10-07, End: 2016-10-31
Additional date-related information:

Microalgae

Causative organism known: No
Causative Species/Genus: Pseudo-nitzschia spp. (762,300 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: Oxygen content (nL/L): Wind velocity:
Temperature (°C): Oxygen saturation %: Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m): Salinity: Current Velocity:
Nutrient information:
Temperature Range During Event: Max: °C, Min: °C
Salinity Range During Event:
Bloom location in the water column: Whole column
Growth:
Growth Comments
Additional Environmental information:

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin Toxin type Toxin details Max. concentration Assay type
Quahogs - Mercenaria mercenaria Domoic Acid 9.3µg/g Other
Kit used: Type of kit used:
Additional information: HPLC - Bigelow Lab, ME Scotia Kit Following initial toxixity testing using HPLC, and area closures, Scotia Kits were used going forward to screen for toxicity in shellfish meats from a variety of species. Plankton samples and cell counts were used to track the extent and intensity of the bloom.
Economic losses:
Management decision: After initial reports of a large Pseudonitzschia bloom all Massachusetts growing areas south of Cape Cod were closed to all shellfishing (closures lasted from 10/7/16 - 10/31/16).
Additional harmful effect information:
Created at 06:29 on 23 Mar 2017
Updated at 02:48 on 6 Feb 2020
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