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News Items - January 17, 2007
Chemical Contamination Assessment Quantifies Extent of Sediment Contamination, Toxicity in Chesapeake Bay, Provides Information for Management Planning
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has released Magnitude and Extent of Contaminated Sediment and Toxicity in Chesapeake Bay, a report that provides chemical contaminant and benthic organism information useful for management planning efforts and understanding the Bay ecosystem. Sediment contaminants often pose ecological and human health risks through degraded habitats, loss of fauna, accumulation in the coastal food chain, and human consumption of fish and wildlife. NCCOS researchers collected sediment samples from the Bay between 1998 and 2001 to determine where and how severely the sediments are contaminated by toxic chemicals, including metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), persistent chlorinated pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). They also studied benthic organisms to determine their distribution in the study area, and conducted laboratory studies to assess the toxicity of the sediments to estuarine organisms. While a major finding is that most of the main portion of the Chesapeake Bay is relatively uncontaminated, the analyses showed localized, elevated contaminant levels in Baltimore and Norfolk Harbors, the Susquehanna Flats, the deep trough areas west of Kent Island and south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and the Hart Miller Island area. For more information, please download the report at http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/publications/NCCOSTM47.pdf or contact Ian Hartwell at (301) 713-3028 x137 or Ian.Hartwell@noaa.gov. [03M00039] (CCMA)
Analysis of Mirex in the Great Lakes Yields Information to Aid Planning and Management, Shows Lake Ontario Concentrations Higher than in Other Great Lakes
As reported in the American Journal of Environmental Sciences, the National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science (NCCOS) has quantified the pesticide Mirex in sediments and zebra mussels in the southern Great Lakes, yielding information to aid management agencies in planning and formulating ecosystem management actions. Mirex, a persistent and toxic polychlorinated pesticide that began entering the region in the 1960s, is a concern at its current level in Lake Ontario because it is a possible human carcinogen, is bioaccumulative, and has the potential for magnification in the tissues of top predators. NCCOS scientists found that Lake Ontario consistently had the highest Mirex concentrations during the monitoring period of 1992-2004, followed by Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. Current concentrations of Mirex at Lake Ontario sites are significantly greater than the national 85th percentile, when compared to the standard used in NCCOS’s Mussel Watch Project. However, trend analyses of Mirex concentrations in tissues in the Great Lakes show an overall decline of more than 80% across all sites, thought to be due to a ban on its use in 1977 and environmental processes which have removed it from the lakes. For more information, please contact Gunnar Lauenstein at (301) 713-3028 x152 or Gunnar.Lauenstein@noaa.gov or Dennis Apeti at (301) 713-3028 x132 or Dennis.Apeti@noaa.gov. [02M00019] (CCMA)
Caribbean Reef Fish Studies Demonstrate Importance of Ecological Criteria in Design of Marine Protected Areas
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) scientists and partners have completed a study, described in an article in the February issue of Fisheries and Management Ecology, of reef fish populations and habitats of the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) that demonstrates the importance of ecological design criteria for establishing protected areas. The administrative process used to delineate the boundaries of the VICRNM, which was established offshore of St. John by a Presidential Proclamation in 2001, primarily used legal parameters, and did not include a robust ecological characterization of the area. Although the VICRNM prohibits almost all extractive uses, the scientists found that areas outside the monument had significantly more hard corals, greater habitat complexity, and greater richness, abundance and biomass of reef fishes than areas within the monument. Because of reduced habitat complexity within the VICRNM, the enhancement of the marine ecosystem through increases in economically important reef fishes may not be fully realized, or may take longer to detect. This study was based on surveys NCCOS and its partners conducted from 2002-2004 of habitats and fishes both within and outside the VICRNM and received funding from NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. For additional information, contact Mark Monaco at (301) 713-3028 x160 or Mark.Monaco@noaa.gov. [03M00043] (CCMA)