The U.S. mussel watch : nationwide geographic and long-term trends of PAHs in coastal mussels and oysters

The issue of fishery evaluation criteria following oil spills in lakes, rivers and seas was discussed. This paper focused on the problem of developing criteria for closing and opening fisheries during responses to oil spills. Closures are implemented to prevent the public from consuming toxic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and to prevent tainted sea food products from entering the marketplace. A U.S. nationwide program, called Mussel Watch Project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Status and Trends (NS and T) Program, was established to monitor spatial distribution and temporal trends of contaminant concentrations at over 200 coastal and estuarian sites around the U.S. The program has analyzed concentrations of 44 PAHs. The trends of PAHs was compared with other pollutants. An assessment of the extent to which PAHs in mollusks reflect population density was discussed. 16 refs., 4 tabs