Mitigation and Controls of HABs

Abstract

The impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) on public health and fisheries economics can be severe and are increasing along many coasts of the world. Other ecological impacts include the alteration of marine habitats and devastation of the coastal amenities. Commercial oysters and mussels along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts are exposed to paralytic, diarrhetic and amnesic shellfish poisoning (Oshima 1982; Yasumoto 1982; Sundstrom et al. 1990; Anderson et al. 2000; Landsberg 2002). Fish-killing HABs have become major threats to aquaculture industries in Asian countries (Chen 1993; Okaichi 1997; Dickman 2001; Kim 2005). Approximately 150 species of aquatic microalgae are harmful and toxic (Landsberg 2002). Such microalgae as Chattonella antiqua (Okaichi 1997), Cochlodinium polykrikoides (Kim 1998), Heterosigma akashiwo (Honjo 1992), Karenia mikimotoi (Iizuka and Irie 1966), Heterocapsa circularisquama (Matsuyama et al. 1995), and Karenia brevis (Ingersoll 1882) cause mass mortalities of wild and cultured fish almost every year. In the USA during the 1987–1992 period, the total cost of HABs averaged $49 million per year (Anderson et al. 2000). In Korea, from 1995–2004, the estimated fisheries damage approximated 1.31 million US$ per year (Kim 2005). The average economic loss in Japan is over a billion yen per year (Imai 2005). Hong Kong’s worst red tides, in 1998, caused fish kills valued at 10.3 million US$ (Dickman 2001). Nonetheless, predictive models and mitigation techniques are not developed enough to secure the safety of seafood and to minimize the impacts of HABs on commercial fisheries. The goal of mitigation and control of HABs is to protect public health, fisheries resources, and marine ecosystems. Present approaches focus on mitigation to prevent the impacts of HABs on fisheries resources and the aquaculture industry rather than public health.