Recent advances and state of the technology for HAB species detection.

Abstract

A roundtable discussion on HAB species detection and quantitation was held on Wednesday, October 23,2002, from 0800 to 1200 hours. The overall objective of the roundtable discussion was to bring the attendees up to date on recent activities and the state of development of applicable methods for detection and quantitation of harmful algal species. Several short reports from recent meetings relayed the highlights of the technologies and/or approaches covered during those meetings. Attendeeswith specific recent findings addressed the roundtable with their information. General discussions between all attendees addressed the state of developmentltest/operation of applicable technology and/or approaches. The discussions were steered toward applied concerns including: the need for certified reference standards in order to establish the intercomparability of various methods; what to do with the data from HAB monitoring/quantification programs; where do these capabilities fit in the bigger picture of forecasting events; how feasible are "early warning systems" based primarily on detecting phytoplankton; when will they be operational?