Harmful Algae Monitoring Phytoplankton Counts and Oceanographic Conditions 1994-2016

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Harmful Algae Monitoring Programme (HAMP) provides phytoplankton species abundance and oceanographic condition data from 11 coastal stations in the St. Lawrence estuary from 1994 to 2016. The dataset includes cell counts per liter, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a, and nutrient content. It was collected weekly from April to November to monitor toxic and harmful algal blooms.

Use Cases

• Model relationships between phytoplankton abundance and oceanographic conditions like temperature and salinity to predict harmful algal blooms.
• Analyze spatio-temporal distribution of toxic algae species using cell count data from 11 stations along Quebec's shores.
• Investigate environmental conditions leading to blooms by correlating chlorophyll-a and nutrient content measurements with species counts.
• Study long-term trends in harmful algae occurrence from 1994 to 2016 using time-series data from the discontinued monitoring program.

Strengths

• Data spans 22 years (1994-2016) providing a long-term ecological record.
• Collected from a network of 11 coastal stations with weekly sampling during the growing season.
• Includes multiple measured variables: phytoplankton cell counts, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a, and nutrient content.
• Associated with a detailed published sampling and analysis protocol (Blasco et al., 1998).

Limitations

• The core HAMP program was discontinued in 2010, with only opportunistic sampling afterwards, creating a data gap.
• The number of identified and counted phytoplankton species increased over time, potentially introducing inconsistency in taxonomic coverage.
• Spatial coverage is limited to 11 specific stations in the St. Lawrence estuary, not a broader regional survey.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Maurice-Lamontagne Institute scientists.

Collection Method

Weekly water sampling from April to November at fixed coastal stations; phytoplankton samples preserved in lugol solution and analyzed.

Time Range

1994 to 2016.

Freshness

Data collection ended in 2016; the dataset is a historical archive.

Geography

11 coastal stations along the St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec, Canada, from Tadoussac to Tête-à-la-Baleine on the north shore and Sainte-Flavie to Carleton on the south shore, plus Havre-Aux-Maisons in the Magdalen Islands.