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EMAP/NOAA 2003 SURVEY OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE WESTERN U.S. CONTINENTAL SHELF, INCLUDING GULF OF FARALLONES NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
Citation:
Nelson, W G. EMAP/NOAA 2003 SURVEY OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE WESTERN U.S. CONTINENTAL SHELF, INCLUDING GULF OF FARALLONES NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY. Presented at Gulf of Farallones Research Workshop, San Francisco, CA, February 11, 2004.
Description:
In June of 2003 a partnership between EPA, NOAA, and the western coastal states conducted a joint survey of ecological condition of aquatic resources along the U.S. western continental shelf (30-120 m), using multiple indicators of ecological condition. The study is an element of EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). An element of study design included the assessment of condition in the five NOAA west coast National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) as compared to non-sanctuary areas of the shelf. A total of 146 stations were successfully sampled from the NOAA Ship McArthur II, including 30 stations in the Olympic NMS, 12 stations in the Gulf of Farallones NMS, 1 station in the Cordell Banks NMS, and 14 stations in the Monterey Bay NMS. Channel Islands NMS was sampled as part of the Bight 03 survey, and these data will be integrated with the EMAP/NOAA survey results.
The environmental condition indicators sampled from McArthur II included measures of:
(1) general habitat condition (depth, salinity, temperature, pH, total suspended solids, light transmittance, sediment characteristics); (2) water quality indicators (chlorophyll a, nutrients, dissolved oxygen concentration); (3) pollutant exposure indicators (sediment contaminants (metals, pesticides, PCBs, PAHs), fish tissue contaminants (metals, pesticides, PCBs)); and (4) benthic condition indicators (diversity and abundance of benthic infaunal species, fish pathological anomalies). Additional fish tissue contaminant samples were obtained from the NMFS 2003 Shelf Slope Survey. Sediment and tissue contaminant samples are currently undergoing laboratory analysis. Preliminary data from the cruise should be available in the fall of 2004. This study represents the first benthic condition assessment spanning the continental shelf of Washington, Oregon and California. It also represents the first comparison of benthic condition between the National Marine Sanctuaries and the continental shelf outside NMS jurisdiction at regional scale.