HAVANA, CUBA, (ACN) Cuban and American professionals and others from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) successfully completed a sampling expedition between Cayo Largo and the Banco de Jagua Marine Park in the province of Cienfuegos.

The group was made up by researchers from the Center for Environmental Studies of Cienfuegos (CEAC by its Spanish acronym), the IAEA Marine Laboratory in Monaco and the Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States.

Maikel Hernández Núñez, CEAC Communication Specialist, told ACN that the excursion was focused on collecting evidence of waters, macroalgae and reef fish to study the transfer of toxins associated with ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP).

World major personalities associated to this sphere were involved in the expedition as Marie Yasmine Dechraoui Bottein, a research scientist at the AIEA Marine Environment Laboratory in Monaco, who has vast experience in the field of toxicology and detection methods linked to marine toxins, particularly those causing CFP, and Patricia Tester, NOAA researcher in the field of toxic algal blooms in the Caribbean who has served as an expert on several missions in the region.

This scientific activity was developed under the auspices of the Regional Project RLA7020 Establishing the Caribbean Observing Network for Ocean Acidification and its Impact on Harmful Algal Blooms.

Cuba has dozens of keys that make up its archipelago with impressive tourist attractions and one of them is Cayo Largo del Sur, at the eastern end of Los Canarreos archipelago, with an area of 37 square kilometers.

This territory is located 135 kilometers from Nueva Gerona, in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth and 125 kilometers south Cienfuegos province.