Impacts of Harmful Algal Blooms in the U.S.

In 2015, a major toxic bloom of algae shut down the Dungeness crab and razor clam fisheries along the U.S. West Coast for up to 5 months. Commercial landings of Dungeness crab were down $97.5 million compared to the previous year and the fishery failures resulted in disaster declarations.

In collaboration with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the University of Washington, NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center created an interactive story map (as well as new website content) to call attention to the social and economic impacts of harmful algal blooms. Using the latest nationwide economic figures and told through the stories of those citizens personally affected by the 2015 U.S. West Coast event, these new materials document the human toll of harmful algal blooms in coastal communities.

To read more about this project and JPB Senior Fellow Stephanie Moore‘s research please visit: https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=9e6fca29791b428e827f7e9ec095a3d7