| 6. Freshwater, Coastal and Marine Environments |
| 6c. Harmful algal blooms |
| Blooms of some microalgal species have negative effects on marine organisms. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) result from increased populations of harmful algae. HAB problems are currently important global environmental issues, because incidents of HABs have shown a global increase in scale and frequency. Further, eutrophication in the coasts of the world through intensive human activities has contributed to increased in HABs. Types of HABs are categorized into biomass red tides, toxic blooms, noxious red tides and diatom blooms. HABs have negative impacts on coastal fisheries by causing fish kills and toxin contamination of bivalves in aquaculture, lowering quality of Nori (Porphyra) by diatom blooms, toxic effects on humans, aesthetic problems, bans on digging clams and marine ecosystem impacts such as killings of marine animals. This subsession deals with various aspects of HABs subjects such as biology, ecology, monitorings, occurrence mechanisms, modeling, forecasting, appearance of new HABs, developments of new techniques for HAB studies, and mitigations. Discussion and information exchange will be made for a step toward resolution of HABs problems. |
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