Persistent organic pollutants in outmigrant juvenile chinook salmon from the Lower Columbia Estuary, USA

Health status of Largescale Sucker (Catostomus macrocheilus) collected along an organic contaminant gradient in the lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, USA

“…The present finding of an upstream-downstream gradient in the organic contaminant concentration of male fish livers is consistent with results of earlier studies of the lower Columbia River that reported increased levels of contaminants in water and biota downstream of the Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA) area (Fuhrer et al, 1996;Johnson et al, 2007Johnson et al, , 2013Morace, 2006Morace, , 2012. In 2009, organic contaminant concentrations in composites of liver and other tissues were generally higher in the downstream sites (Columbia City and Longview) compared to the upstream reference site (Skamania; Nilsen et al, 2014-in this issue) and, in 2010, univariate (Nilsen et al, 2014-in this issue) and multivariate analyses (present study) of liver organic contaminants in individual males confirmed this trend; compounds with significantly higher downstream concentrations in 2010 included HCB, PCB-170, PCB-174, BDE-47, BDE-100, BDE-153 and BDE-154.…”

“…Skamania, the upstream site, has little or no significant contaminant inputs except for Bonneville Dam and other sources considerably further upstream. Earlier studies at this site have shown contaminant levels in the aquatic environment to be relatively low (Fuhrer et al, 1996;Johnson et al, 2007;Morace, 2006). Columbia City receives contaminant inputs from the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area, the Willamette River that flows into the Columbia River at Portland, the Multnomah Channel (part of the Willamette River), and treated wastewater effluent from St. Helens.…”

“…Previous studies have established the presence and concentrations of a large suite of persistent contaminants in water and biota of the Columbia River (Hinck et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2007Johnson et al, , 2013. Fish health may be affected by a variety of environmental contaminants including polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs; Arkoosh et al, 2010;Muirhead et al, 2006), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs; Gundersen et al, 2000), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane metabolites (DDTs; Slaninova et al, 2009), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; Johnson et al, 2008), and heavy metals (Golovanova, 2008).…”

“…A concurrent analysis of the same fish showed that the concentration of organic contaminants in liver of males is higher than in other tissues such as brain, stomach, gonad, and fillet -in this issue); thus, liver contaminant content was used as index of environmental exposures in the present study. Target contaminants in this study include legacy organic contaminants and organic contaminants of emerging concern previously reported in the study area (Fuhrer et al, 1996;Henny et al, 2003;Hinck et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2007Johnson et al, , 2013.…”

A survey of benthic sediment contaminants in reaches of the Columbia River Estuary based on channel sedimentation characteristics

“…All anadromous fish species produced in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, many that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, have to migrate through the CRE (NMFS, 2014). In a study examining the body burdens of contaminants in juvenile salmon in the CRE, researchers documented exposure levels for some contaminants approaching concentrations that could affect their health and survival and that were among the highest levels measured from Pacific Northwest estuaries (Johnson et al, 2007). Sediment deposition is one way compounds may persist in the aquatic environment and enter the foodweb via benthic organisms (Nakata et al, 2007).…”