Celebrating Seafood Safety
25 years since Toxic Algal Bloom
The enforced closure and ban
There’s more to your food,
our science can reveal it.
Cawthron delivers industry leading analytical testing,
reliable results and market changing insight.
• Method development & validation team
• IANZ (ISO) accreditation
• GMP certi ed for Nutraceuticals
• Label claims
• Food safety
• Export certi cation
www.cawthron.org.nz
lab@cawthron.org.nz
FT368
on exports was in response
to a toxic algal bloom that
was unknown to scientists
at the time and posed a public health
threat. A quarter of a century later,
New Zealand now boasts a billion-dollar,
iconic seafood industry; backed by
a strong partnership between industry,
science and regulators. Cawthron
research scientist Dr Lincoln Mackenzie
recognised in the early 1980s
that algal biotoxins were an issue
around the world, and specialised in
marine harmful algal blooms in the
New Zealand environment – and
was heavily involved in the scientific
response to the bloom. “There was a
lot of pressure at the time. People’s
livelihoods were on the line and the
media attention was huge - there was
something people found very fascinating
about this unknown thing from the
ocean affecting their food supply,” he
remembers. “Now we’re much better
placed because we have a long-term
record of monitoring around New
Zealand so we know what to expect.
We also benefit from our advances
in chemical methods, molecular tools
and world-leading monitoring. If this
type of event happens tomorrow,
we’ll know quickly and there won’t be
any mystery about it.” Marine farmer
Rob Pooley was in the early stages of
his new business at the time, and reflected
on the impact of the event and
Twenty-five years ago,
New Zealand’s seafood
industry reopened following
a nationwide three-month
shutdown.
the importance of improving methods
to reduce false positives. “We had to
get up to speed on the science and
it was a massive learning curve,” he
says. “There was a lot of uncertainty
and the humanitarian cost was real.
Many of us had little to no income,
and the Marlborough community was
relying on food parcels. We’re resilient
people and knew we would make
it through, but there were certainly
casualties within the marine farming
association.” Al Campbell was a regulator
in 1993, and says closure was
a painful decision that cost industry
dearly. Looking back now though, he
acknowledges the role of the bloom
in bringing about innovation. “At the
time there was a user-pays model
in science research, and that meant
industry really owned the problem and
became partners in the solution,” he
says. “Industry worked closely with
scientists and regulators, so all new innovations
were driven out of a desire
to be collaborative, cost effective and
scientifically robust. This established
the teamwork that is a great strength
of the research programmes we have
today.” The toxin responsible for the
1993 event was eventually identified
by American and Japanese researchers,
and to this day has only been
found in the waters of Mexico and
New Zealand. Cawthron continues
to have a positive legacy relationship
with the overseas scientists and
institutes that supported the scientific
response, and they form part of the
Nelson-based Institute’s international
network. Cawthron marine toxin
chemist Dr Tim Harwood leads the
Safe New Zealand Seafood Programme
which is funded by MBIE and
is a collaboration between the seafood
industry, scientists and MPI. “There’s
a need for industry, scientists and regulators
to continue to work together
to maintain market access and the
generation of safe seafood,” he says.
“Our research is focused on knowing
the risks and doing things better; so
that’s understanding more about the
ecology and drivers of bloom events,
and developing quicker, cheaper,
more accurate analysis methods.”
Cawthron Institute is internationally
recognised for its analytical chemistry
capability and has a reputation for
excellence in marine toxin research.
Cawthron scientist Dr Lesley Rhodes
also applied her expertise at the time
of the 1993 bloom, and she was
named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours
List 2017 for services to science
and marine farming. Rhodes explained
that we’re now well placed with a raft
of future-focused research looking at
emerging threats, new technology and
potential toxins that we could see in
New Zealand due to warming waters.
“Since 1993, we’ve got laboratories
running regular phytoplankton monitoring
programmes, our chemistry and
molecular teams have grown, and we
have extremely valuable microalgae
collection which underpins the development
of molecular and chemical
methods,” Rhodes says.
14 MAY 2018
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