Status, correlations and temporal trends of chemical contaminants in fish and sediment from selected sites on the Pacific coast of the USA

The National Benthic Surveillance Project (NBSP), a component of NOAA's Nat ional Status and Trends Program, monitored sediment and bottomfish for chlo rinated hydrocarbon pesticides (CHs), PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocar bons (PAHs) at selected urban and nonurban sites along the west coast of th e USA from 1984 to 1993. This project successfully generated an extensive d ata set to evaluate the recent status and trends of environmental quality i n coastal waters. This article summarizes and interprets the status of sele cted PAHs, PCBs and CHs in surficial sediments and selected species of bott om-feeding fish for 50 sites in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California f or the first 7 years (1984-1990) of the NBSP. The highest concentrations of most sediment-associated organic contaminants were present in the most hig hly urbanized areas, and many of the organic contaminants were bioaccumulat ed by indigenous marine fish species. The concentrations of PAHs and CHs in sediments generally correlated with levels of these compounds or their der ivatives in bottom-dwelling fish. Assessment of trends in the concentration s of chlordanes, dieldrin, DDTs, PAHs and PCBs for the 7 year period from 1 984-1990 suggest that, since the mid-1980s, concentrations of the persisten t CHs, such as PCBs and DDTs in sediment and fish, show no consistent tempo ral trends, whereas levels of PAHs, which are nonpoint source contaminants, showed consistent increases at both nonurban and urban near-coastal sites. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.