Biology, epidemiology and management of Pyrodinium red tides

Abstract

Red tide has become a frequent phenomenon in the coastal waters in many parts of the world. In Southeast Asia many lives have been lost and thousands taken ill from eating contaminated seafoods. Economic losses are also serious and effective mitigating measures are greatly needed. Urged by the 1987 Guatemala poisonings and the first appearance in 1988 of red tides in Manila Bay (Philippines), the concept of a meeting devoted exclusively to Pyrodinium bahamense was first proposed by CSIRO and ICLARM. The ASEAN/US Coastal Area Management Project took up the proposal and developed it into a Pyrodinium red tide management and training workshop which permitted the participation of red tide researchers, public health officers and administrators to discuss research and management issues on Pyrodinium red tides and to develop a training manual. This proceedings contain papers presented at the workshop.