Updated HAB toxin monitoring methods being piloted in coastal waters

SCCWRP and its partners have begun test-driving a set of updated methods for monitoring toxin-producing harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Southern California’s coastal waters that are designed to offer more sensitivity, enable faster turnaround times, and target a wider range of toxin types.

The updated and expanded toxin analysis protocols, which researchers began piloting in December through California’s 18-year-old Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Alert Program (HABMAP), include use of LC-MS (liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry) methods, instead of the immunological methods that have been traditionally used.

The updated protocols also have added monitoring of yessotoxin, which is a HAB toxin produced during some red tide events. Most marine HAB toxin monitoring to date in California has focused on domoic acid, which is produced by a ubiquitous HAB species known as Pseudo-nitzschia.

The updated toxin monitoring capabilities are coming at a time when toxin-producing HAB events are becoming more severe and more frequent off the coast of California, leading to mass poisoning of sea lions and other marine mammals, which are being sickened en masse from exposure to HAB toxins.