Sensors for Monitoring Harmful Algae, Cyanobacteria and Their Toxins

4 • The IFCB has been used successfully over the past decade to alert managers with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Department of State Health Services to potential HAB events. • The ESP is being deployed as part of monitoring efforts in the Great Lakes, as an early warning system for managers protecting public health. This initiative is a result of the ongoing microcystin impacts in that region. • The Breve Buster has been deployed in Florida waters to monitor brevetoxin-producing Karenia brevis populations in order to alert officials and researchers to make decisions on closures and increased sampling, respectively. 3. A disconnect was recognized between end-users and manufacturers. This still remains an issue, as costs for detection platforms/kits can remain out-of-reach for many municipalities. Further, it can be difficult for managers to justify expense for limited technologies (e.g. detection restricted to one species/toxin), especially when events and their impacts are sporadic. In turn, manufacturers must weigh the investment of development versus potential client base. The integrated nature of ACT Workshops, and to some degree ACT Validation Testing, has worked to bridge this gap. Also, researchers play a vital role in advising non-technical end-users on the capabilities of the products and managing their expectations as to what the product can deliver. Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) have become more commonplace as an avenue for including more end-users. ACT incorporates a TAC, as do some granting agencies (e.g. PCMHAB under NOAA). 4. The HAB community recognized the need for reliable support in developing community- derived standards (toxins and organisms) that are rigorous enough to accommodate a large portion of the end user group needs. This was recognized as being highly challenging, as the question of ‘what is good enough’ is always one of complexity. The availability of toxin standards to the global HAB community has recently been expanded via a partnership between the Cawthron Institute (New Zealand) and Sigma-Aldrich. This builds on certified toxin reference materials available from the National Research Council (Canada). However, from the aspect of antibody production, detection systems can be challenged by numerous known and unknown toxin congeners. In addition, antibodies across the biological sciences are under validation scrutiny, as related to transparency in origin and reproducibility (see Blow 2017). Physiology and genetic differences in strains isolated from similar or disparate geographical locales can challenge detection systems and hinder advancements towards ‘gold standards’. 5. Given the diverse targets in geographic scale and limited funding availability, workshop participants proposed that ACT narrow its focus and play a more grass roots angled role by supporting existing programs that are working toward integration of HAB observing interregional ocean observing activities . Over the past decade, ACT has solidified relationships with the regional associations of IOOS to prioritize testing technologies conducive to network platforms. This relationship ensures that both groups keep moving in the direction of meeting stakeholder and researcher needs. The current workshop took place at a time when much of environmental science was being questioned and funding support for important monitoring and research efforts was limited. Meanwhile, the occurrence of toxic HAB events did not slow during this transition period. The 2017 season kicked off with several notable events, including 1) the closure of several Alaskan oyster farms due to high levels of saxitoxin (K. Lindsey, posted July 3, 2017); 2) postponement of