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National HAB Office Event Response Program

The National HAB Office administers an Event Response Program in cooperation with NOAA administrators from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.  This program provides immediate assistance to help federal, state and local officials manage events and advance the understanding of HABs as they occur. Depending on need, the program may provide access to toxin analysis, training, technical assistance, and support ship-based offshore sampling. Modest funding is available to help defray costs of immediate mobilization of response efforts.

During the past few years this program funded response efforts to multiple unexpected or unique HAB events.  These projects were funded across the country in response to both coastal and freshwater blooms, and included: studies to evaluate cyanobacterial bloom impacts in the northern Gulf of Mexico, investigation of the potential contribution of algal toxins to multispecies wildlife mortalities in the Norton Sound region of Alaska, monitoring activities in Lake Pontchartrain to assess the concentration and toxicity of harmful cyanobacteria blooms in the vicinity of areas used for recreation, and assessment of airborne toxins associated with intensive Microcystis blooms in the tidal Caloosahatchee River and adjoining canals around Cape Coral, FL.

Summaries of Event Response activities funded by this program over the past decade are listed below. Information on how to apply for HAB Event Response funding can be accessed on the NCCOS Rapid Response webpage.

Past HAB Event Response Efforts: