Study shows freshwater cyanotoxins spread to marine environments

SCCWRP and its partners have completed a three-year study showing that toxins produced by freshwater cyanobacterial blooms are spreading through waterways in California and mixing with marine toxins in downstream coastal ecosystems.

The study, completed in November, showed the pervasiveness of multiple types of freshwater toxins at all of the study’s more than 20 coastal monitoring sites. Furthermore, toxins produced by both marine and freshwater HABs (harmful algal blooms) were detected at many coastal sites, with freshwater toxins also found in the tissues of mussels.

A final report summarizing the findings has been submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.