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November/December, 2002 Newsletter 

General news

There are now over 120 recipients of this newsletter, with most in being Australia obviously but, by request, copies also go to a number of our colleagues in New Zealand, Canada, USA and United Kingdom. The ARNAT web-site (where you will find all of the archived newsletters - www.aims.gov.au/arnat) has almost 2,000 hits without any promotion.

I hope everyone has a safe festive season and "see" you all in 2003.

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Bloom news

In October, it was reported that Great Keppell Island (off Rockhampton) had a few kilometres of dense healthy Lyngbya growing in about 5 metres of water.

Algae carpets Sydney beaches (Tuesday, November 5, 2002)

A carpet of red along Sydney beaches stretching from Maroubra to the central coast, is a non-toxic algal bloom which can cause skin irritations. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says it is still conducting tests, but the type of bloom is believed to be Noctiluca and some related species. EPA spokesman John Dengate says the algae is not uncommon at this time of the year and the bloom is believed to be caused by upwellings of deep ocean water full of nutrients, which the algae feed on. Mr Dengate says the current weather patterns could also be a factor.

Deadly algal bloom returns (October 15, 2002)
By Katherine Hoby, New Zealand Herald

A toxic algal bloom that has killed thousands of fish in the Orewa area is the same one that poisoned more than 100 people and paralysed the shellfish export industry 10 years ago. At least 10,000 fish have been washed up on Orewa Beach, Hatfields Beach and Red Beach over the past four days. Most have been estuary and shallow water dwellers, such as flounder and eels. Auckland Regional Council spokesman Eddie Grogan said dead fish found in the Waiwera Estuary were also suspected to be victims of the bloom. Oyster farmers further north in the Mahurangi Harbour, near Warkworth, have been monitoring shellfish for toxic algae but have found nothing, says Jim Dollimore, of Bio Marine. He said harvesting would stop as soon as any toxin was detected, because shellfish exporters would not take the slightest risk. Oyster and mussel farming sites in the gulf and on the West Coast were monitored year round Mr Grogan said if the bloom was present it would probably kill oysters, and so would be easily identifiable. Some farmers have just started reharvesting after a two-month ban on farming imposed in July by MAF and Auckland Public Health after raw sewage was pumped into the local river.

"They were told about this on Friday and it's just a waiting game now," he said. Signs have gone up at the affected beaches warning members of the public not to collect fish or swim until further notice. "Until we know more about this toxic bloom and its likely effects it is important the public heed this warning," said Mr Grogan. NIWA scientist Dr Hoe Chang said the bloom toxins destroyed the gills of the fish, causing them to suffocate. He said the bloom involved was the same one that surfaced in 1992. It spread down much of the North Island coastline to include some of the country's richest shellfish beds, including those in the Marlborough Sounds. Those eating the shellfish reported heat-sensitive skin, aching limbs and joints, and numb lips. There have been no reports of people being affected this time.

Mr Grogan said the next task was to determine how widespread the bloom was, and who might be affected. "Public protection is high on the agenda." He said that a toxic algal bloom was a naturally occurring problem which might have had an environmental trigger such as warmer weather. He urged people to call the Enviroline on 0800-80-60-40 if they noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Shellfish free of toxin - ( October 16, 2002)

Tests on shellfish around Orewa show no sign of toxin from an algal bloom that has invaded the coast north of Auckland, according to public health authorities. The health protection officer for Auckland District Health Board's regional public health service, Leslie Breach, said shellfish sampled were free of toxins and so far the public were not being warned to stay out of the water. Monitoring would continue and if the situation changed health warnings would be issued, he said. The algal bloom was present around the whole of the Hauraki Gulf, from Great Barrier Island to the Firth of Thames, but was present at much denser levels near the Orewa/Red Beach area. Intense spots of the bloom were likely to be discovered at this time of year, Mr Breach said. About 10,000 dead fish washed up along the coast over the past three days, but because most were estuary or shallow water dwellers it was thought they probably suffocated.

Killer algae in Hauraki Gulf identified - (October 17, 2002) 

The algae which are killing fish in the Hauraki Gulf are of the species Karenia mikimoto, and are related to the species responsible for killing thousands of fish in Wellington Harbour in March 1998. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientist Dr Hoe Chang said the algae were common and only became dangerous to fish in large concentrations thought to occur as a result of the El Nino weather pattern.

Algal toxin publications of potential interest found in November, 2002

1. M. M-Hamvas, C. Mathe, E. Molnar, G. Vasas, I. Grigorszky, G. Borbely (2002) Microcystin-LR alters the growth, anthocyanin content and single-stranded DNase enzyme activities in Sinapis alba L. seedlings Aquatic Toxicology 61(1), 1-9
2. Truman P. Stirling DJ. Northcote P. Lake RJ. Seamer C. Hannah DJ. (2002) Determination of brevetoxins in shellfish by the neuroblastoma assay. Journal of AOAC International. 85(5):1057-1063.
3. Nivsarkar M. Acharya J. Rao PVL. Kaushik MP. (2002) Simultaneous detection of Anatoxin-a and Microcystin-LR from cyanobacterial strains using high-performance liquid chromatography and LC-ESI-MS method. Indian Journal of Chemistry Section A-Inorganic Bio-Inorganic Physical Theoretical & Analytical Chemistry. 41(9):1867-1870.
4. Montilla-Lopez P. Munoz-Agueda MC. Lopez MF. Munoz-Castaneda JR. Bujalance-Arenas I. Tunez-Finana I. (2002) Comparison of melatonin versus vitamin C on oxidative stress and antioxidant enzyme activity in Alzheimer's disease induced by okadaic acid in neuroblastoma cells. European Journal of Pharmacology. 451(3):237-243.
5. Hay ME. Kubanek J. (2002) Community and ecosystem level consequences of chemical cues in the plankton. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 28(10):2001-2016.
6. Suzuki K. Nakata T. (2002) Convergent synthesis of the ABCDEF-ring system of yessotoxin and adriatoxin. Organic Letters. 4(22):3943-3946.
7. Kerr DS. Razak A. Crawford N. (2002) Age-related changes in tolerance to the marine algal excitotoxin domoic acid. Neuropharmacology. 43(3):357-366.
8. Foulds IV. Granacki A. Xiao C. Krull UJ. Castle A. Horgen PA. (2002) Quantification of microcystin-producing cyanobacteria and E-coli in water by 5 '-nuclease PCR. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 93(5):825-834.
9. Holmes CFB. Maynes JT. Perreault KR. Dawson JF. James MNG. (2002) Molecular enzymology underlying regulation of protein phosphatase-1 by natural toxins [Review]. [Review] Current Medicinal Chemistry. 9(22):1981-1989.
10. Dounay AB. Forsyth CJ. (2002) Okadaic acid: The archetypal serine/threonine protein phosphatase inhibitor [Review]. Current Medicinal Chemistry. 9(22):1939-1980.

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Page last updated - December 18, 2008

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