ABSTRACT
As anthropogenic and natural infl uences continue to exert their effects on the marine environment, the all pervasive threat of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) on natural resources and ecosystems becomes a more complicated issue to manage. In parallel, more effects are being documented. For example, albeit rare over 20 yr ago, more than 40% of marine mammal strandings in the USA have been attributed to HAB toxins in the last two decades (Bossart et al. 1998, Scholin et al. 2000, Van Dolah et al. 2003, Flewelling et al. 2005, Gulland and Hall 2007, Landsberg et al. 2009, Torres de la Riva et al. 2009, Fire and Van Dolah 2012, Twiner et al. 2012), and the frequency of events appears to be increasing (Gulland and Hall 2007).
