Harmful Algal Blooms or HABs have a detrimental effect on the environment and can severely impact human health, marine life and ecosystems as a whole. They occur when algae grow out of control and can be caused by a number of factors, such as increased nutrient loadings or pollution. In order to monitor these events, the HAEDAT database was designed. This database contains records of HABs, based on yearly reports by ICES and PICES member states. It is part of the Harmful Algal Information system or HAIS, which is built within the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and in cooperation with WoRMS, ICES, PICES, IAEA and ISSHA.

The HAEDAT database also contains monitoring grids, allowing reporters to link HAB events to fixed points and polygons. Events can then be queried based on the monitoring grid they occurred in. In total, coordinates for 557 HAB monitoring grids are available, of which 554 were added to Marine Regions (TR-01, TR-04 and TR-06 were left out because of erroneous coordinates).

Click here to see all HAB monitoring grids currently in the Marine Regions database.