Red Tide info...

[WonderBoy]

I'm not sure how many of you knew this is, but I thought I would shout it out to you guys. Ray, you most likely are familiar with this. I was just introduced to this myself recently.
I had a seminar at USF from Dr. Dean Martin, Chemistry, and according to him, scientists at Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota were able to treat Red Tide affected water with what they call "nannochloris" and eliminate the organism from the water. They used a 4,000L tank inhabited by bonnet-head sharks. Red Tide affected water was brought in I believe from Sarasota Bay and introduced to the tank. The nannochloris was added to the water and not only eliminated Karenia Brevis (the red tide dinoflagellate), but also any toxins they were worried might be released by the destruction of the organism. Now, a 4,000L tank is a very controllable environment and only the sharks were present as far as I know. I'm not sure if there are any Mote people on the board, I would like them to correct me, add, or at least comment on this if they please. This is what I was told. The focus of Mote at this point seems to be more on prediction of red tide than control. The age old question of "Not can we, but should we?" rears it head I think. Red Tide is a naturally occurring bloom. I will grant that recent activities on the part of man could play a role in the frequency and possibly the strength of these blooms, but it still happened long before us. There are accounts of fish kills in the Bible going back to Pharaoh in Egypt. Native American tribes in Florida have recorded instances of massive fish kills. We're upset now because it hurts our fishing industry, tourism, and general pleasure out on the water. But do we have the right to prevent it? Also, the experiment worked in the lab in a tank inhabitant only by one or a few organisms. The possible effects on a Gulf ecosystem are nearly impossible to predict.
What was interesting is that right after Dr. Martin spoke, Joseph Krzanowski spoke about the human health effects of red tide. The brevis toxins and other similar toxins cause either excessive contraction or excessive relaxation of muscular tissue surrounding the windpipe. This causes people with asthma to sometimes have attacks on the beach during a red tide bloom. It got quite technical after this, but basically other tissues and enzyme activity were analyzed and there may be a benefit from these toxins in the field of chemical and neuro-transmitters, particularly in the brain. This could have a HUGE benefit in the areas of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Very little data exists, but there is potential and I thought that was interesting.