John C. Wekell

TL;DR: The detection of toxin in urine, feces, and stomach contents of several sea lions represents the first proven occurrence of domoic acid transfer through the food chain to a marine mammal.

TL;DR: Comparison of analyses for domoic acid levels in Pacific razor clams, Siliqua patula, containing moderate to high levels of domeic acid by the standard HPLC analysis protocol and the SPR-based assay gave an excellent correlation.

TL;DR: The first illnesses and only deaths in Washington State resulting from paralytic shellfish poisoning were documented in the 1940s, resulting in the establishment of one of the longest monitoring programs for paralytic poisoning in commercial and recreational shellfish in the United States as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: A bloom of the pennate diatom Pseudo-nitzschia, several species of which are associated with the production of the potent excitotoxin domoic acid, was observed in a Puget Sound, Washington embayment in July and August of 1997, aiding in the development of a model for prediction of toxic bloom events in the shallow embayments of Pugetsound.

TL;DR: A sampling strategy of razor clams is recommended for regulatory purposes that will result in DA measurements more representative of total population toxin values, and the coefficient of variation among all samples was 122%, indicating that harvest closures based upon composite analyses of only six clams could be in error.