JUNEAU, KETCHIKAN – University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) researchers Dr. John Harley and Dr. Matthew Pawlus have been studying shellfish toxicity to help create a safer environment in Southeast Alaska. Shellfish like mussels and clams have been an abundant food source in the region, however recent harmful algal blooms (HABs) have increased the likelihood […]
Mass mortality of seabirds. Marine mammal deaths. Alaskans sickened by shellfish. What’s the common theme? Seawater contaminated by toxic algae. Call it death by phytoplankton. A group of Alaskans — including state officials, tribes, nonprofit organizations and researchers — have recently come together to try to combat these marine toxins. The goal is to keep […]
Life exists everywhere you look. Even on glacier ice, home to inch-long worms, snow fleas, bacteria and algae. When gathered by the millions on the ice, algae cells can help make the water they need to survive. Alaska scientists recently studied this living agent of glacier melt. “If you went to a place on a […]
The disastrous 2015-16 Dungeness crab season, delayed and shortened by an unprecedented bloom of toxic algae, is a bitter memory for the West Coast fishing industry. The culprit was domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin produced by marine algae and discovered in 1987 as the cause of amnesic shellfish poisoning. Scientists at UC Santa Cruz have […]