Centre of Applied Marine Biotechnology

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Title Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning in Scallops.
Objectives Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) caused by consumption of shellfish contaminated with the biotoxin, domoic acid, was responsible for extensive scallop fishery closures in Scottish waters during 1999. In Ireland the entire scallop fishery was closed due to the toxin in December 1999. In response to concerns regarding the wide variation in results that can occur between samples taken from the same waters at the same time, this project was performed to investigate some of the possible causes for this variation.
Results based on the analysis of king scallops from Casheen Bay, County Galway demonstrated that at times a significant inverse relationship could occur between scallop size and domoic acid concentration yet at other times no relationship was evident.
Duration 2000 Partners/Collaborators Marine Institute Funding Agency Marine Institute
Contact for Further Details John Slater – CAMBio Principal Investigator Email: john.slater@lyit.ie John Gillespie – Technical Support Email: john.gillespie@lyit.ie + Publications/Presentations 2004 Bogan, Y., Harkin, A.L., Greenwood, C., Gillespie, J., Hess, P. & Slater, J. The influence of scallop size on domoic acid concentration in the king scallop, Pecten maximus. Presented at Int. Molluscan Shellfish Safety Conf., Galway, 14-18th June 2004. 2000 Slater, J., Gillespie, J. & Greenwood, C. ASP Toxicity: Sources of variability in the reported concentration of domoic acid in scallops. Project Report for Marine Institute.

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