Rapid, early warning approaches to track shellfish toxins at Se`lhaem Buoy

The overarching goal of this project is to incrase monitoring capacity for harmful algae and biotoxins in Belllingham Bay, Washington.Goal 1: Establish a water quality, harmful algae, and toxin sampling program at Se'lhaem Buoy in Bellingham Bay, WA.Objective 1: Collect weekly data from the buoy in Bellingham Bay utilizing the moored buoy water quality data and enhancing it with field measurements for phytoplankton and toxins.Objective 2: Train students and researchers on instrument deployment and maintenance, field collection of water quality data, and laboratory preparation and analysis of toxins, water quality, and phytoplankton counts.Goal 2: Work closely with Lummi Natural Resources to monitor for toxins in shellfish and water at the buoy.Objective 1: Increase capacity of the SSRC and the Land-Grant Mission through frequent use of the 26' research vessel and moored buoy access and data. This will increase the relevance of the partnerships with LNR, and UCSC, and the NANOOS network.Goal 3: Increase capacity to conduct marine biotoxin and harmful algae research at NWIC via the purchase of materials related toxin analysis, and train multiple users in processing of water quality and harmful algae identification.Objective 1: Increase the skills of student and faculty researchers in water quality and harmful algae sampling and processing to improve workplace and graduate school preparedness skills.Goal 4: Increase indigenous scholars in STEM, specifically in the geosciences, through paid research internships for NWIC students.Objective 1: Support six NWIC students in paid internships for research.Objective 2: Increase awareness of NWIC Land-Grant research with Native K-12 youth in the NWIC service area.