Band Schmidt, C.J. & C.F., Rodríguez-Gómez (2022). Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Harmful Algae. 19th International Conference on Harmful Algae (ICHA 2021). La Paz, Baja California Sur, México, octubre 10 - 15, 2021, 382.
Christine Johanna Band Schmidt 1 y Carlos Francisco Rodríguez-Gómez 2
The 19th International Conference on Harmful Algae (ICHA 2021) was held in Mexico from 10-15 October, 2021, for the first time in a virtual format. The conference was hosted by the CentroInterdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR) from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional(IPN) and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C. (CIBNOR) located inLa Paz, Mexico, B.C.S. This conference was postponed for the first time for one year due to thecoronavirus disease pandemic. Initially an in-person conference was planned in the beautifulcity of La Paz. For a few months in early 2021, we were still optimistic and were planningfor a hybrid event, but when we realized that everybody was in a strict lock-down, we had tomove to a virtual format. This situation led to the planning of the first-ever virtual ICHA. Thelocal organizing committee worked very closely with the ISSHA Council to make adjustmentsneeded for a successful event.In spite of the challenges we faced during the planning process, the success of this virtualconference was demonstrated by registration of 804 participants from 51 countries, with a totalnumber of 406 contributions distributed in 9 plenary talks, 247 oral contributions, 40 speedtalks and 110 posters. Each abstract was reviewed by three members of the scientific steeringcommittees, whose assistance we greatly appreciate. We had a full scientific program in threeparallel rooms divided into 52 oral sessions covering 17 HAB topics. Talks were offered intwo time slots to allow participants in most of the world’s time zones to listen to the talksduring typical working hours. All sessions were chaired by the ISSHA Council as well as localorganizers. Thank you to everyone who participated, given the strain of the time differencesand some last-minute technical complications. All in all, we did a great job! Presentationswere requested to be sent to the organizers one month prior the conference, adding a challengefor many of you. Our community pulled through, and you all send amazing presentations!All presentations, with the exception of the special sessions were pre-recorded. This virtualformat allowed us to keep the presentations on the conference website for two months after theconference ended.The opening ceremony was given by Beatriz Reguera who received the ISSHA YasumotoAward at the previous ICHA Conference in 2018 in Nantes, France, for her contribution inunderstanding the biology, population dynamics and sampling strategies for dinoflagellates ofthe genus Dinophysis, producers of diarrhetic toxins. Her talk was titled “Forty years living withDinophysis: myths and realities.
We had eight additional plenary talks that covered different leading HAB topics: “Ciguatera:Current evidence and management options” by Marie-Yasmine Dechraoui Bottein; “A hotter,more uncertain future: Can HAB research meet the environmental challenges of our time, anddeliver meaningful outcomes?” by Michele Burford; “Creating large multi-regional communitypartnerships to monitor Harmful Algal Blooms and shellfish toxins in Alaska” by Chris Whitehead; “Socializing HABs knowledge, the Mexican Case” by Ernesto García Mendoza;“From genes to ecosystems and back” by Uwe John; “Taxonomy and phylogeny of unarmoreddinoflagellates in the Kareniaceae found from Asian Pacific” by Mitsunori Iwataki; “Cell-to-cellinteractions in the sea” by Alexandra Z. Worden, and “Chile: Causes, impact and managementof a ´hot spot´ for toxic algal blooms” by Jorge I. Mardones.We also had five special sessions led by well-known leaders covering timely topics of harmfulalgae research in both marine and freshwater environments
Palabras clave: Harmful algae; international conference
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