Interior Alaska News

U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan and Representatives Dave Joyce and Suzanne Bonamici have reintroduced the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act (HABHRCA) of 2025. This legislation aims to reauthorize the original HABHRCA of 1998, enhancing federal-state responses to harmful algal blooms (HABs). The bill seeks to ensure communities have access to observation data, training in monitoring, prevention, mitigation, and testing for HAB toxins.

Harmful algal blooms occur across all U.S. states in various water bodies. They pose threats to food security by reducing oxygen levels in water through hypoxia events, impacting marine life and coastal ecosystems. Senator Sullivan emphasized the importance of this legislation for Alaska, stating: "Unchecked harmful algal blooms can threaten our marine life and coastal ecosystems...making our response to HABs critically important."

Congressman Joyce highlighted Lake Erie's vulnerability due to its shallowness: “The shallowest of all the Great Lakes, Lake Erie, is particularly vulnerable...Any threat to Lake Erie is also a threat to the drinking water supply for 11 million people." Congresswoman Bonamici noted the increasing scale of these events with climate change: “The scale and frequency of harmful algal blooms...continue to increase with climate change.”

Marine stakeholders expressed support for the reauthorization. Gay Sheffield from Alaska Sea Grant mentioned concerns about Arctic marine wildlife: “HABs are a novel danger...for their nutritional, cultural, and economic well-being.” Sheyna Wisdom from Alaska Ocean Observing System stressed continued support as imperative: “Alaskan coastal communities are facing a threat...it is imperative that this support continue.”

Emma Pate from Nome Eskimo Community remarked on traditional harvesters' concerns: “Harmful algal blooms involve the base of the food chain...more research and outreach are needed.” Peter de Menocal from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution underscored national impacts: “The increasing frequency and intensity of HAB events along every coast...is having significant economic, environmental, and human health impacts nationwide.”

The original HABHRCA was passed in 1998 with an interagency task force assessing harmful algal bloom distribution impacts on coastal waters. It has been reauthorized three times through FY 2023.