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New Tools for Phytoplankton Monitoring Tested in Kachemak Bay
May. 5th 2025
Alaska’s Kachemak Bay Research Reserve has monitored phytoplankton in local waters for more than two decades. What began as a response to oyster farmers who wanted information on water quality has become an essential monitoring program focused on detecting harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Kachemak Bay. Published in weekly water quality reports and shared with the public, this monitoring data informs an early alert system that supports wild shellfish consumers and helps local businesses respond to HABs. Now, the Reserve is exploring new ways to improve HABs monitoring in the region and along Alaska’s coastline.
“We are so grateful to our dedicated volunteers—retirees, commercial fishermen, educators, ecotourism operators, and tribal partners—who collect phytoplankton samples for this program,” says Rosie Masui, a coastal training program specialist at the Reserve and long-time leader of this initiative. “However, most of them are seasonal residents. This means that data collection typically doesn’t begin until May and the early spring phytoplankton bloom—a critical event for oyster spats that depend on phytoplankton for food—is often missed.”
Given that Alaska lacks a unified approach to harmful algal bloom (HAB) monitoring, residents must consume personal harvests at their own risk during times when monitoring data is not available. With the state’s vast coastline and limited testing facilities, there are many logistical challenges to getting wild food resources tested for toxins in a timely manner. Commercial shellfish however is tested by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and is safe for consumption.
With a small seed grant from University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the Reserve is working with the Alaska Ocean Observing System and NOAA’s Kasitsna Bay Laboratory to explore ways to better sample phytoplankton in Alaska’s waters.
Enter the Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB). Originally developed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the IFCB captures high-resolution images of phytoplankton as the water passes through its system. The images are compared to a database of other images, allowing researchers to identify them in real time. The IFCB is typically incorporated into a ship’s seawater intake system , but Reserve scientists are experimenting with using it in one spot and hope to eventually attach it to a dock for continuous data collection to complement community monitoring efforts.
The IFCB could inform the Alaska Harmful Bloom Network by providing real-time detection of HABs. Satellite data is often used to predict HABs in the contiguous United States, but Alaska, a sparsely populated state, lacks the people on the ground to verify this data, and the IFCB could help bridge this gap.
“The IFCB has the potential to be a resource not only for determining the spring bloom, but also for alerting communities of harmful algal blooms in their region.” says Masui. “With additional funding, we could improve our ability to classify and analyze IFCB data, providing critical information to mariculture farmers about when to set oysters, and improving our ability to inform safe shellfish harvest and consumption.”