You are here:
AN ASSESSMENT OF FISH TISSUE CONTAMINANTS IN SMALL COMPARED TO LARGE WEST COAST ESTUARIES
Citation:
Lamberson, J O., H Lee II, AND W G. Nelson. AN ASSESSMENT OF FISH TISSUE CONTAMINANTS IN SMALL COMPARED TO LARGE WEST COAST ESTUARIES. Presented at Pacific Estuarine Research Federation, Port Townsend, WA, May 17-18, 2004.
Description:
Residues of metals, PCBs, and pesticides were measured in whole bodies of fish from small coastal estuaries in Washington, Oregon and California as well as Puget Sound, Columbia and San Francisco Bay. This effort was a component of EPA's Western Coastal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) for 1999-2000.
In the small estuaries, zinc had the highest metal concentration (excluding aluminum and iron), averaging 17.7 g/g for all fish species. Silver, mercury, cadmium, and lead had the lowest metal residues, each with mean concentrations < 0.1 g/g. In the larger estuaries zinc and mercury averaged 13.4 and 8.3 g/g respectively, while silver, cadmium, antimony and lead had the lowest residues with mean concentrations of <0.1 g/g.
Total DDT had the highest residue of all the neutral organic contaminants, averaging
39 ng/g in the small estuaries and 65 ng/g in the larger estuaries. Total PCBs had the second highest neutral organics residue averaging about 16 ng/g for all fish species combined in the smaller estuaries and 56 ng/g in the larger estuaries.
As expected, fish tissue residues varied with location of collection, with the highest concentrations found in fish from highly industrialized areas. Values are compared with ecological risk guidelines.