Harmful Algal Information System: Event US-05-017

General Information

Event name:	US-05-017
Country:	UNITED STATES
Nature of the harmful event:	Water Discoloration , High Phyto concentration , Mass mortalities
Event directly affected:	Natural Fish , Other Terrestrial
Toxicity detected:	Yes (Approximate range: 229-1809 ug/L KmTx1 (n=3))
Associated syndrome:
Unexplained toxicity:
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector):	Karlodinium veneficum (=K. micrum, Gyro/Gymnodinium galatheanum)
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme:	Yes (Continuous Water quality Monitoring Program, Rapid Response Monitoring Programs in MD)
Event occurred before in this location:	No
Individuals to contact:	TANGO, Peter

Location & Date

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Location:	Latitude: , Longitude:
General location information:	Corsica River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA HAB Area code(s): US-10
Additional location information:	Tributary to the Chester River, Chesapeake Bay, MD... length of covered shoreline was approximately 4 miles.
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd):	Start: 2005-09-26, End: 2006-09-29
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information:

Microalgae

Causative organism known:	Yes
Causative Species/Genus:	Karlodinium veneficum (56,000 cells/L)
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:
Chlorophyll concentration, if known:	pre bloom: 275 ug/L, post bloom: 25 ug/L µg/l
Additional bloom information:	I'll have to do some digging to get additional species info. Giving you what I had readily available. Post event, Heterosigma akashiwo was in the algal community but none was detected during the bloom either by microscope or PCR.
Event-related bibliography:	Occurrence of Actively Toxic Phytoplankton and Cyanobacteria and Their Significance in Chesapeake Bay. Tango et al. 2006 draft prepared for submittal to the journal Estuaries in April 2006.

Environmental Conditions

Weather:	Cloudy	Turbidity (NTU):	5.8-34.7	Wind direction:
Stratified water:		Oxygen content (nL/L):	0 -10.3	Wind velocity:
Temperature (°C):	24	Oxygen saturation %:	0-130	Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m):		Salinity:	9-11ppt	Current Velocity:	0

Nutrient information:

Temperature Range During Event:

Max: 28 °C, Min: 22 °C

Salinity Range During Event:

Max: 11, Min: 9

Bloom location in the water column:

Surface
Subsurface

Growth:

In situ

Growth Comments

Additional Environmental information:

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin	Toxin type	Toxin details	Max. concentration	Assay type
Karlodinium veneficum	Kalkitoxins		1809 ng/ml	LC-MS

Kit used:

Type of kit used:

Additional information:

Toxin testing conducted by COMB lab of Allen Place, Baltimore, MD

Economic losses:

Management decision:

The Corsica River is a watershed selected by the State of MD as the region's first targeted comprehensive implementation plan to remove a river from US EPAs list of impaired waterways. Coincidentally, the morning the fish kill started, the Governor was m

Additional harmful effect information:

estimated 30,000 to 50,000 fish killed. 15 species were found on Tuesday by MDE, the most abundant fish were menhaden but also gizzard and hickory shad, sunfish, catfish, white and yellow perch, carp and killfish were observed. The fish kill is considere