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Researchers with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are predicting a low to moderate red tide for the Gulf of Maine this summer, continuing the pattern of smaller blooms observed in the region over the last few years.

Gulf of Maine red tide, caused by the algae Alexandrium catenella, produces a toxin that can accumulate in shellfish, which can result in serious or even fatal illness in people who eat contaminated shellfish. The magnitude and severity of Alexandrium blooms, and the subsequent need for shellfish harvesting closures to protect human health, vary considerably from year to year and between decades. Shellfish toxicity was severe and widespread from 1978 to 1988 and again from 2003 to 2009, but has been lower since then. The causes of the decadal variations are the subject of ongoing research.

Concentrations of Alexandrium cysts in Gulf of Maine bottom sediments, October 2019. Credit: NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.