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Addressing environmental contaminant concerns with large-scale mussel and sediment monitoring programs
Citation:
Elskus, A., L. LeBlanc, J. Latimer, D. Page, G. Harding, P. Wells, AND D. Killorn. Addressing environmental contaminant concerns with large-scale mussel and sediment monitoring programs. NAC SETAC 25th Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, April 08 - 09, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Environmental monitoring of contaminants in sediments and mussels is a way to evaluate the significance of pollution in the marine environment. Organic and heavy metal contaminant data were compiled from large monitoring programs in the Gulf of Maine in order to view patterns in sediment and mussel levels. The specific purpose of the analysis was to evaluate whether there were relationships between contaminant levels in sediments and those of nearby mussels. The results of this research will inform scientists and managers about the strengths and weaknesses of sediment and mussel monitoring data in determining the levels of contamination in the environment. The comparison of contaminant levels in sediments and mussels revealed the difficulty of using different monitoring designs to assess environmental exposures of contaminants. Factors such as differing collection times and locations were likely the reasons for the lack of correspondence between sediment and mussel contamination. Future monitoring programs should minimize these confounding factors by collecting sediments and mussels in the same locations at the same times.
Description:
There are many monitoring programs that seek to measure toxicant exposure by collecting environmental samples and analyzing for organic and inorganic contaminants in the marine environment. However, monitoring programs tend to collect either marine sediments or mussels to quantify exposure. To compare the utility of organic and metal concentration data derived from either sediment samples or mussel tissue samples to answer monitoring and management questions in estuaries and coastal environments, we used data from the following monitoring programs, Mussel Watch (NOAA), National Coastal Condition Assessment (EPA), and Gulfwatch (a joint Canadian- US program). We compare mussel and sediment concentrations at sites in the Gulf of Maine utilizing data from 2005-2015 from the above programs. Results show little correspondence between sediment and mussel tissue contaminants. This presentation will focus on the potential causes of this disconnect and the challenges presented by using data collected by different programs