Harmful Algal Information System: Event ES-01-015

General Information

Event name:	ES-01-015
Country:	SPAIN
Nature of the harmful event:	Seafood toxins
Event directly affected:
Toxicity detected:	Yes (Approximate range: 102.9 µg/g DA)
Associated syndrome:	ASP
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 (Detected annualy from 1995; generally with a periodicity of two events a year: at the beginning - middle of spring and autumn.)
Individuals to contact:	MANEIRO, Juan , PAZOS, Yolanda , MOROÑO, Ángeles

Location & Date

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Location:	Latitude: 43.357333, Longitude: -8.224000
General location information:	Ría de Ares-Betanzos., Galicia, NW Spain. HAB Area code(s): ES-05
Additional location information:	43º 21.44' - 43º 24.55' N; 8º 13.44' - 8º 17.11' W. The affected area is dedicated to intensive mussel cultivation in rafts and to a high production of other molluscs in natural banks: clams, cockles, oyster and scallops are the main species exploited.
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd):	Event Date:2001-11-05 Start: 2001-11-13, End: 2001-11-21
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information:	from 05/11/01 to 12/11/01.

Microalgae

Causative organism known:	Yes
Causative Species/Genus:	Pseudo-nitzschia spp. (506,340 cells/L)
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:
Chlorophyll concentration, if known:	8.92 µg/L Chlª. µg/l
Additional bloom information:	Oceanographic conditions and phytoplankton data presented are those at the maximum Pseudo-nitzschia cell concentration.
Event-related bibliography:

Environmental Conditions

Weather:		Turbidity (NTU):	Wind direction:
Stratified water:	No	Oxygen content (nL/L):	Wind velocity:	49
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:

Subsurface

Growth:

Advected
In situ

Growth Comments

Additional Environmental information:

Wind direction: 39º. Wind velocity: 49 Km/h.

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin	Toxin type	Toxin details	Max. concentration	Assay type
Raft cultured mussel (Mytilus galloprovincial	Domoic Acid	DA eq	102.9 µg/g	LC
Infaunal bivalves from wild banks	Domoic Acid	DA eq	102.9 µg/g	LC

Kit used: No

Type of kit used:

Additional information:

AOAC Official Method, 1998 991.26, Domoic Acid in Mussels. Liquid Chromatographic Method.

Economic losses:

Not evaluated

Management decision:

Harvesting was closed in culture areas when domoic acid concentrations was greater than 20 ppm.

Additional harmful effect information:

Irrelevant effects, because the closures caused by this event were brief (two weeks maximum). 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 proble