Speaker: Vera Trainer, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA

Topic: Are harmful algal blooms getting worse?

Why are crab and clam fisheries closures happening with greater frequency over the last several years?  What can we do about this?  Although algae produce over half the world’s oxygen and sequester carbon, some of them can kill birds, marine mammals and people and result in millions of dollars of fishery harvest losses, due to their unpredictability. Research to understand the environmental conditions that are causing harmful algal blooms (HABs) to get worse with climate change is important and will lead to strategies to reduce then their occurrence, severity and financial impacts.

Come and learn about research on harmful algal blooms off the Oregon coast that is leading to HAB forecasts.