FORKS — Razor clams and harmful algae are the two topics that will be addressed during a double Evening Talk at the Olympic Natural Resource Center on Thursday.
The two lectures will begin at 7 p.m. in the Hemlock Forest Room at the center at 1455 S. Forks Ave.
Biologist Daniel Ayers, coastal shellfish manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Vera Trainer, supervisory oceanographer for the Marine Biotoxin program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, will speak.
Ayers’ presentation will be on the “Status of Razor Clams on the Washington Coast.”
He manages the state’s razor clam fishery and oversees the unit’s work managing the coastal Dungeness crab, pink shrimp and spot prawn fisheries, and the Willapa Bay oyster reserves and research projects in Willapa Bay.
He also works closely with other state and federal agencies on harmful algal bloom issues since toxin domoic acid was first found along the Washington coasts in 1991.
Trainer will speak on Stephanie Moore’s work on “Social and Economic Impacts of the Record-Setting 2015 Harmful Algal Bloom.”
Current research activities include refinement of analytical methods for both marine toxin and toxigenic species detection, assessment of environmental conditions that influence toxic bloom development and understanding shellfish susceptibility to toxins in their environment.
She is president of the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae and is the Science Board chair-elect of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization.
She is also the lead investigator of the Puget Sound Monitoring Program for harmful algal blooms and was one of the founders of the Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom partnership.
Trainer received her doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Miami, with postgraduate studies in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Washington.
Both people are in Forks for an Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom meeting at the center.
The meeting is coordinated by Rich Osborne, aquatic program manager at ONRC and are making their time available for some community outreach and engagement.
Evening Talks at ONRC is funded through the Rosmond Forestry Education Fund, an endowment that honors the contributions of Fred Rosmond and his family to forestry, natural resources, and the Forks community.
Refreshments will be served; visitors are urged to bring a favorite dessert.
For more information, contact Frank Hanson at 360-374-4556 or fsh2@uw.edu.
