Researchers share Alaska Forum award for Aleutian toxin monitoring

March 26, 2012

Marmian Grimes

The Alaska Forum on the Environment presented its 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award to researchers who led the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) Project.

The award was presented to researchers Bruce Wright, senior scientist with the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, and to Ray RaLonde, aquaculture specialist with the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program at the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

With funding from the North Pacific Research Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the researchers conducted the first extensive community-based monitoring for harmful algal blooms and PSP in waters around the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands region in Alaska and Bering Island in Russia.

They developed methods for communities to monitor and track marine toxins in connection with climate change observations, and published their findings in near real time for residents and scientists. Overall, the project helped communities reliant on subsistence shellfish harvests better respond to the health threat and minimize the risk of poisoning.

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