THREAD - We will also hear from Mr. Ivory Engstrom, who is the director of special projects at McLane Research Labs in Massachusetts. Engstrom develops and studies "biological sensing instruments" that ID and detect the toxins present in algal blooms.
The tools he has developed create an "early warning system" for many HAB species. His latest creation was put to the test last summer when the lab launched a pilot study. The lab was focused on a species of interest: dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides...
...which causes larval and juvenile shellfish mortality. When the sensor was deployed in July 2017, c. polykrikoides was instantly detected in the water.
An aqua farm owner who worked with Engstrom during the pilot test was immediately alerted...
An aqua farm owner who worked with Engstrom during the pilot test was immediately alerted...
As a result, the shellfish in the nursery at the farm able to be moved to an alternate grow site where the concentration of the HAB species was much lower.
