Starting in May 2015 a massive harmful algal bloom (HAB) of the toxigenic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia occurred along the North American west coast resulting in unsafe levels of domoic acid in seafood. Subsequent fisheries harvest closures were both the longest and the most geographically widespread on record. Fishery-dependent coastal communities were severely impacted, with a fisheries resource disaster declaration occurring for the 2015-16 season of the California Dungeness crab fishery. This research aims to assess the social, cultural and economic impacts of the 2015 HAB event across 17 fishing communities on the US west coast using primary survey data. The survey instrument collected sociodemographic and economic factors hypothesized to confer resilience to HAB events as well as data that quantifies individual impacts. Community responses to the massive 2015 US west coast HAB event will be examined within a community disaster resilience framework. The impacts may be influenced by the community’s social vulnerability, dependence on commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as any immediate adaptive responses. The survey data will be used to empirically test existing indices of community social vulnerability and commercial fishing dependence that have been developed by NOAA using secondary data. The results from this analysis will identify protective factors that contribute to a community’s ability to cope with HABs, and promote cost-effective and practical means of building resilience to future HAB events in at-risk communities
