First recorded bloom of Margalefidinium polykrikoides in Buzzards Bay. This bloom occurred in September and reached concentrations of 7.6 million cells per liter. This phenomenon is ongoing, as blooms have been recorded in every subsequent year.

Dinophysis blooms in the Nauset Estuary on Cape Cod cause the first DSP closure in Massachusetts.

The first fishery closure in New England due to Dinophysis occurs in Maine.

Domoic acid levels exceed regulatory limits for the first time in New England.

A precautionary closure is enacted in Eastern Maine in reponse to eleveated presence of Pseudo-nitzschia.

The HAB forecasting system for the Gulf of Maine predicts the significant region-wide Alexandrium bloom in 2008, which was associated with widespread toxicity in shellfish from Maine to Cape Cod.

A significant and extended Alexandrium bloom forced the closure of shellfish harvesting from the Bay of Fundy to Martha’s Vineyard for several months and caused an estimated $50 million in losses to the Massachusetts shellfish industry alone.

In the 1980’s, Margalefidinium polykrikoides is first recorded in the Northeast in Narragansett Bay.

Alexandrium catenella bloom spreads into New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the first time.

First paralytic shellfish poisoning closure event in Maine.