I heard from someone at Whole Foods yesterday that Oregon and Washington are recalling (some) Dungeness crab because of domoic acid levels -- I wonder if that is related.
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture:
Commercial evisceration zones and orders
Oregon crab: Crab containing viscera harvested from zone K are under an evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. February 11, 2019, due to elevated levels of domoic acid in the crab viscera. Crab harvested from zones J and L are under an evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. February 14, 2019, as a buffer zones to zone K. See the link below called Evisceration orders and recall information for details.
California crab: Crab containing viscera harvested from California waters are under an evisceration order effective 12:01 a.m. January 15, 2019, due to elevated levels of domoic acid in the crab viscera. This remains in effect until further notice.
Is it related? Looks likely, but not directly quantifiable:
Domoic acid is a naturally occurring biotoxin that does not present danger in small quantities. It becomes dangerous when it is present in large quantities. While we are uncertain of the causes of the influx of domoic acid in our oceans, scientists are researching possible causes for the increased levels. Possible contributing factors include global climate change, eutrophication from fertilizers, agricultural and urban runoff, aquaculture activity, coastal development and consequently the increased exposure to waters and foods contaminated by domoic acid.https://www.oceansoffun.org/domoic_acid_poisoning
The increasing frequency and geographic extent of toxic algal blooms along populated coastlines is generally attributed to human activitieshttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996450/
1. Parsons ML, Dortch Q, Turner RE. Sedimentological evidence of an increase in Pseudo-nitzschia (Bacillariophyceae) abundance in response to coastal eutrophication. Limnol Oceanogr. 2002;47:551–558.
2. Hallegraeff GM. A review of harmful algal blooms and their apparent global increase. Phycologia. 1993;32:79–99.
