Abstract
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) produce local impacts in nearly all freshwater and marine systems. They are a global problem that require integrated and coordinated scientific understanding leading to regional responses and solutions. Given that these natural phenomena will never be completely eliminated, improved scientific understanding of HAB dynamics coupled with monitoring and ocean observations facilitates new prediction and prevention strategies. Regional efforts are underway worldwide to create state-of-the-art HAB monitoring and forecasting tools, vulnerability assessments, and observing networks. In the United States, these include Alaska, Pacific Northwest, California, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, Great Lakes, and the U.S. Caribbean islands. This paper examines several regional programs in the United States, European Union, and Asia and concludes that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. At the same time, successful programs require strong coordination with stakeholders and institutional sustainability to maintain and reinforce them with new automating technologies, wherever possible, to ensure integration of modelling efforts with multiple regional to national programs. Recommendations for scaling up to a global observing system for HABs can be summarized as follows: 1) advance and improve cost-effective and sustainable HAB forecast systems that address the HAB-risk warning requirements of key end-users at global and regional levels; 2) design programs that leverage and expand regional HAB observing systems to evaluate emerging technologies for Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) in order to support interregional technology comparisons and regional networks of observing capabilities; 3) fill the essential need for sustained, preferably automated, near real-time information from nearshore and offshore sites situated in HAB transport pathways to provide improved, advanced HAB warnings; 4) merge ecological knowledge and models with existing Earth System Modelling Frameworks to enhance end-to-end capabilities in forecasting and scenario-building; 5) provide seasonal to decadal forecasts to allow governments to plan, adapt to a changing marine environment, and ensure coastal industries are supported and sustained in the years ahead; and 6) support implementation of the recent calls for action by the United Nations Decade 2010 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to develop indicators that are relevant to an effective and global HAB early warning system.
Highlights
Known in many parts of the world as floraciones algales nocivas (FANs), prolifération d’algues nuisibles (PANs), or harmful algal blooms (HABs), potentially noxious algae growth in coastal environments worldwide is characterized by appearing without warning and often lingering long past expectation
Near real-time Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) observations of Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid (DA) inform a forecast product called the Pacific Northwest HAB Bulletin that currently is being transitioned from a research- to an operational product
Active European Union (EU) research projects such as CoCliME28 (Codevelopment of Climate services for adaptation to changing Marine Ecosystems co-funded by ERA4CS JPI-climate), PRIMROSE (Predicting Risk and Impact of Harmful Events on the Aquaculture Sector funded by Interreg Atlantic Area) and Alertox-Net29 (Atlantic Area Network for introduction of Innovative Toxicity Alert Systems for safer seafood products funded by Interreg Atlantic Area) foster interdisciplinary and transnational cooperation
Summary
Known in many parts of the world as floraciones algales nocivas (FANs), prolifération d’algues nuisibles (PANs), or harmful algal blooms (HABs), potentially noxious algae growth in coastal environments worldwide is characterized by appearing without warning and often lingering long past expectation (see Supplementary Table S1 for a list of abbreviations in Supplementary Material). Under GEOHAB and GlobalHAB, the international community defined priority goals, objectives, and scientific road maps that constitute the basis for HAB research and management at local and regional scales These programs interface with other trans-national and international efforts such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), and GEO/Blue Planet to implement HAB-specific efforts within these coordinated networks. Improvement in seafood production supports recommendations from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which has voiced concerns that as the global population increases toward a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, the western preference for diets rich in meat and dairy products is unsustainable When it comes to food and economic security, marine aquaculture is vital to regional micro-economies as well as national economies. The paper closes with a summary of lessons learned and future directions for integrating HAB monitoring and prediction into a global ocean observing framework
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