Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Presented at CERF 2015: Grand Challenges in Coastal & Estuarine Science, Portland, Oregon, November 8 - 12, 2015 and at the Eighth Symposium on Harmful Algae in the U.S., Long Beach, California, November 15 – 19, 2015
Description:
A growing concern for coastal management is the choice of appropriate public or private responses to
HABs as a natural hazard. Considerable efforts have been devoted to understanding the scientific
aspects of HABs, including their distributions in space and time, their ecological roles, and the nature of
their toxic effects, among others. Much energy also has been directed at exploring socio-economic
impacts and identifying potential management actions, including actions to prevent, control, or mitigate
blooms. Using blooms of Florida red tide (Karenia brevis) as a case study, we develop an approach to the
choice of policy responses to K. brevis blooms. Importantly, several new types of public health,
environmental, and socio-economic impacts now are beginning to be revealed, including human gastrointestinal
and potential neurological illnesses; morbidities and mortalities of protected species, including
manatees, cetaceans, and sea turtles; increased numbers of hospital emergency room visits for the
elderly; increased respiratory morbidities in workers, such as beach lifeguards; and potential reduced K-
12 school attendance. Optimal policy responses to this hazard are likely to depend critically upon why
and where a bloom occurs, its spatial and temporal scales and toxicity, and the nature of its impacts. In
the face of significant ongoing scientific uncertainties, and given estimates of impacts, we find that
policies to expand and stabilize scientific research programs and environmental monitoring efforts, to
develop and implement education programs for both residents and tourists, and to communicate the
physical aspects of blooms to the public in a timely fashion are likely optimal.
Description:
This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation under NSF/CNH Grant No. 1009106.
Keywords:
Coupled human-nature systems
;
CHANS
;
HAB
;
Harmful algae bloom
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Presentation
Permalink
