Harmful algal blooms

When harmful algal blooms (HABs) enter the marine environment, they know no geographical boundaries. Sea Grant programs around the Gulf work hard to get timely information about regional HABs outbreaks to concerned coastal residents.

Ask Missy about harmful algal blooms.

Workshops & events

USHAB stakeholders, scientists, & community meeting–Roundtable
November 6, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL
Panelists and community members joined for a discussion on Harmful Algae Blooms in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this meeting was to allow stakeholders to share their concerns, hear from scientists studying the problem, discuss priorities and needs of stakeholders moving forward, and prioritize research to be conducted in the future.

Harmful algal blooms in coastal Alabama and Mississippi
June 13, 2019 – Mobile, AL
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and  National Centers for Environmental Information hosted a HABs workshop to address the concerns of natural resource managers, commercial fishers, shellfish growers, and tourism professionals. Click here to see videos of talks from the event.

Program resources

Harmful algal blooms affecting Florida’s coast
Florida Sea Grant hosts a comprehensive page on algal blooms, covering both fresh and saltwater infestations. To read it, click here.

Red Tide Rangers
Texas Sea Grant supports the Red Tide Rangers, a group of volunteers who monitor HAB populations in Texas coastal waters. To read more about them, click here. To connect with them on Facebook, click here.

Publications

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium released two publications about HABs in 2019:

Tools

Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System (HABSOS)
HABSOS is a data tool intended to provide environmental managers, scientists, and the public with a means to track HAB events. While the tool is not a HAB forecast, HABSOS does provide the latest sample data along with historical data (back to 1953) from around the Gulf of Mexico for Karenia brevis, sometimes referred to as red tide. To check out HABSOS, click here.

Featured image: A blue-green algae that typically lives in freshwater appeared in the Mississippi Sound in the summer of 2019. (Richard Schmidt)