NOAA Establishes New England Red Tide Information Web Site
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has established a special NOAA New England Red Tide Information Center Web site. The site can be accessed directly at: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/redtide or through the NOAA home page at http://www.noaa.gov.
"This Web site provides information and links to useful information that will enable the public to understand what a red tide is, the required safety measures to follow, and how NOAA and its many partners are responding to the situation," stated retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
The site provides a capsule summary of the event and its potential harmful impacts on humans and shellfish; links to major news releases; information about the Magnuson-Stevenson Act provisions that apply; closure maps of both federal and state shellfish waters; and important state agency sites that are providing localized information.
Additionally, the site provides information concerning NOAA's scientific response effort, general seafood safety information and where to report any marine mammal strandings or deaths.
The last section of the site provides scientific information from NOAA's major response partner, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and several other sources.
The site will be periodically updated as needed during the continuing bloom event.
This article originally appeared in the 06/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.