Contaminant Residues in Demersal Fish, Invetebrates, and Deployed Mussels in Selected Areas of The Puget Sound, WA

ABSTRACT: The Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program (PSAMP) and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility Project ENVironmental inVEStment (ENVVEST) partnered to increase the data yield from the 2003 and 2005 trawl sampling in Sinclair Inlet and selected locations throughout Puget Sound. Samples of English sole, rock sole, sand sole, ratfish, surfperch, staghorn sculpin, graceful crab, and sea cucumber were collected and analyzed for residues of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and metals. In addition, caged mussels were deployed from June – September 2005 (84 days) at locations adjacent to the Shipyard and at reference locations within Sinclair and Dyes Inlets to assess contaminant accumulation and effects on growth. Tissues samples from English sole and mussels were also analyzed for biomarkers of sublethal stress. The tissue residue levels were compared to ecological and human health risk benchmarks. The whole body (wet weight) concentrations of PCBs, As, Ag, and Hg were highest in ratfish; crabs had the highest levels of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn; and sea cucumbers had the highest concentrations of Cr and Pb. In general, the urban bays had higher concentrations of contaminants than the other areas of the sound. The results from the caged mussel study showed that PCBs, PAHs, and Pb were accumulated at elevated levels in Sinclair Inlet, however, the mussels remained healthy throughout the deployment and contaminants did not accumulate to harmful levels.
 

Supplemental Information:

Download raw data used in the paper
    Spreadsheet (Excel): rawdata_dfish4b.xls
     Text file (tab delmitied): rawdata_dfish4b.txt
     Metadat for textfile: metadata_vars.txt
 
 

Reference:

Johnston¹, R.K., D.E. Leisle, J.M. Brandenberger, S.A. Steinert, M.H. Salazar, S.M. Salazar, 2007, Contaminant Residues in Demersal Fish, Invetebrates, and Deployed Mussels in Selected Areas of The Puget Sound, WA, paper presented at the Georgia Basin Puget Sound 2007 Research Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 26-30, 2007.
 
 

Page last updated 5/10/2007