At the national level, a new era has begun with respect to HAB programs and policies. In the past, no single federal agency had assumed a leadership role in coordinating and supporting the studies needed to optimize management and mitigation strategies, and research funding has been sporadic and limited. Now, in response to heightened public and governmental awareness of the growing problems in seafood safety and the changing nature of the coastal marine environment, more funding is being targeted on marine biotoxins, harmful algae, and their impacts. Recognizing that the optimum allocation of these resources can benefit greatly from scientific guidance as new programs are formulated and implemented, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Science Foundation, and several NOAA programs have joined with the academic community in an effort to develop a national consensus on directions and priorities. The first step was the publication and widespread distribution of Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algae: A National Plan, [ Anderson et al., 1993]. This report identified numerous impediments to progress and issued a series of recommendations to accomplish the goal of assuring the safe consumption of seafoods through the prediction, control, and mitigation of the effects of HABs on the marine biota of the United States. The list of impediments identified at the National Plan workshop is diverse and long.
The rate and extent of progress from here will depend in large part on how effectively the recommendations in the National Plan are implemented. State and federal agencies are already using the document to identify topics that relate to their particular responsibilities or purviews, and scientists and private industry are using those ideas to guide their activities as well.
No single agency can address all of the identified impediments, but most can be covered by the combined efforts of several organizations. For this reason, an ad hoc Interagency Task Force on Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algae has been created, consisting of program managers and other high-level officials from federal agencies and programs with interests or responsibilities in HAB issues. This task force meets several times a year to discuss new developments in the field and to coordinate activities and initiatives. A framework for national action has thus been established and the network created to implement it. Concerted efforts will be necessary to keep the lines of communication and coordination open, but the momentum is there to sustain support for fundamental scientific investigations of an oceanographic phenomenon that is of great practical importance to society.
Acknowledgments Work on this review was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (OCE 8911226 and OCE 9421244) and by the National Sea Grant College Program Office, Department of Commerce grant No. NA90-AA-D-SG480 (WHOI Sea Grant Project R/B-112). Contribution No. 8870 from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.