Shellfish Harvesters, Scientists Wrestle With ‘Unprecedented’ Closures Amid Toxic Algae Bloom
A new threat to New England’s shellfish industry seems to be establishing itself more firmly, and regulators are trying to stay ahead of potentially deadly blooms of toxic algae that may be driven by climate change.
Thirty years ago, four people died from amnesic shellfish poisoning after eating cultured mussels from Canada’s Price Edward Island. The mussels contained domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by a class of algae called pseudo-nitzschia. The toxin turned up in PEI mussels the next year, but for decades after that wasn’t heard from again on the Eastern Seaboard.