Survival of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) fry to adulthood following a 10-day exposure to the aromatic hydrocarbon water-soluble fraction of crude oil and release to the Pacific Ocean

Saltwater-acclimated, coded-wire tagged, and adipose fin clipped pink salmo n (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) fry were exposed for 10 days to seawater (contro l) or 25-54 mu g.L-1 (low dose) or 178-349 mu g.L-1 (high dose) of the wate r-soluble fraction (WSF) of North Slope crude oil. The WSF was composed pri marily of monoaromatics and was acutely lethal to the fry: 96-h LC50 ranged from 1 to 2.8 mg.L-1. After exposure the fry (30 000 per treatment) were r eleased into the Pacific Ocean to complete their life cycle. The experiment was replicated in 1990, 1991, and 1992. There was no consistent significan t dose-dependent effect of the 10-day exposure to the crude oil WSF on grow th of the pink salmon prior to their release. Adult pink salmon from this e xperiment were captured in fisheries and also recovered from their natal Qu insam River, British Columbia. Pink salmon from each treatment group were r ecovered in similar numbers. Exposure of populations of fry to the WSF of c rude oil and release to the Pacfic Ocean did not result in a detectable eff ect on their survival to maturity. Fry from all treatment groups incurred t ypically high mortality following release, and there were no discernible ef fects on survival that were attributable to exposure to the WSF of crude oi l.