Warm waters surrounding the Alaska Peninsula have produced algal blooms that threaten the safety of food important to coastal residents, according to the first official report this year of toxins in shellfish. AlaskaBeacon
, needs some warmth to bloom, Wright said. “Alexandrium blooms can take off when you have sea surface temperatures that are about 8 degrees Celsius,” or 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.temperatures in the areas of the Gulf
Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea are shown as well above normal on June 20, 2022, according to daily data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That is not always easy for people to do, he said. It requires collection of samples, packaging and mailing them from sometimes remote locations to Anchorage, where Wright picks up the samples, does the initial processing of them and delivers them to the Department of Environmental Conservation laboratory in the city. A test at the DEC lab costs $125, which can present another impediment, Wright said.
This summer, he plans to conduct a program to track salmon exposure to algal toxins by testing fish livers. “This year, we’ll be getting close to 1,000 king salmon livers from the Yukon River,” he said. The program is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, he said.
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