Bioeffects Assessment in Kvichak and Nushagak Bay, Alaska: Characterization of Soft Bottom Benthic Habitats, Fish Body Burdens and Contaminant Baseline Assessment

The goal of this project is to assess habitat conditions that influence biodiversity and distribution of benthic infaunal communities, contaminants, and chemical body burdens of resident organisms as measures of environmental health in Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay boasts one of the largest commercial and subsistence salmon fisheries in the world. Significant mining activities have been proposed within the bay's watershed that could impact Bristol Bay chemistry and biology, but baseline data are lacking. Baseline data will be essential for monitoring pollution control effectiveness in the watershed. The datasets generated from this study will be incorporated into the NOAA's National Status and Trend (NS&T) Program database which has been developing a dynamic quantitative database on contaminants, toxicity and benthic infaunal species distribution assessed in the coastal U.S. since 1991. Therefore, the value of this project stems not only from the importance of the locale, but also from the fact that it will continue to expand the Alaskan data set in a national online database readily accessible to Alaskan coastal managers, scientific and local communities, and which will support the Alaska Fish Monitoring Program. This is a collaborative effort between the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), the Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). NPRB supplemental funding will allow the collaborators to conduct a comprehensive synoptic assessment of Nushagak and Kvichak Bays, which would not be otherwise possible.