UW gets NOAA grant to begin testing new forecast for toxic shellfish

The automated Environmental Sample Processor will analyze seawater for algal species and toxins. Researchers deployed it in May about 13 miles off Washington’s coast.

A new NOAA-sponsored University of Washington project brings together academic, federal, state and tribal scientists to develop forecasts for toxic harmful algal blooms in the Pacific Northwest, like the massive bloom that closed Pacific Northwest beaches to shellfish harvesting in summer 2015.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in August awarded a five-year, $1.3 million grant to start working on the forecasts. The new early warning system will transition to operation starting in 2017.

Once up and running, the forecasts will help coastal communities from Neah Bay, Washington, to Newport, Oregon. They will be able to target their shellfish monitoring, fine-tune decisions about closing beaches to shellfish harvesting, have more advanced warning and to potentially avoid some beach closures.

“This will be a sort of weather forecast for Pacific Northwest harmful algal blooms,” said Parker MacCready, a UW professor of oceanography and member of the UW Coastal Modeling Group.