23 August, 2007

A GROUP of international marine scientists are in Shetland studying algal blooms to help fish farmers tackle their appearance every summer.

Eight delegates from Scotland, Ireland and France are working with the NAFC Marine Centre, in Scalloway, to find out what conditions are most likely to produce which kind of algae.

The EU-funded programme is a joint effort between the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), the Martin Ryan Institute of the NUI Galway and the NAFC Marine Centre.

Senior lecturer with SAMS, Keith Davidson, said they were focussing on two harmful algal blooms- Alexandrium and Pseudo-nitzschia - which are responsible for paralytic and amnesic shellfish poisoning.

When algal blooms appear, fish farms have to abort harvesting until samples show that the bloom and the poisoning it causes has passed.

"We will be collecting water samples from different parts of Shetland and relating what we find to algal bloom populations and the environmental conditions in those areas - to build up a better picture of what is going on," Mr Davidson said.

They are also taking samples from deep water and the seabed to see where dormant cysts produced by algal blooms lie before rising to the surface.

The team hopes to produce a "risk assessment" to show what conditions would be most likely to produce an algal bloom, by comparing data from Shetland with studies carried out in Ireland and at Loch Creran, near Oban.

Carol Phillips, of the NAFC, said algal blooms cause problems for shellfish and finfish farmers every summer and this study might help them forecast what lay in store.

"At the moment the problem is that you only know you have problem when you have a problem," Ms Phillips said.

The team thanked members of Seafood Shetland, in particular Demlane Ltd and Blueshell Mussels Ltd, for allowing them to access their sites this week.