National distribution of chemical concentrations in mussels and oysters in the USA

Since 1986 the NOAA National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program Mussel Watch has monitored concentrations of trace chemicals in the coastal United States by sampling mussels, oysters, and sediment. The sediment data have been used to define the status or geographic distribution of chemical concentrations (Daskalakis, K. D., & O'Connor, T. P. (1995). Distribution of chemical contamination in coastal and estuarine sediments. Marine Environmental Research 40, 381-398) and the molluscan data have provided an estimate of temporal trends (O'Connor, T. P. (1996). Trends in chemical concentrations in mussels and oysters collected along the US coast from 1986 to 1993. Marine Environmental Research 41,183-200, O'Connor, T. P. (1998). Mussel Watch results from 1986 to 1996. Marine Pollution Bulletin 37, 14-19). This paper centers on chemical concentrations in mollusks at 263 sites around the United States. It provides perspective on concentration ranges and on geographic distributions. For most organic chemicals and lead, concentrations vary in proportion to numbers of people living near a site. For elements, other than lead, high concentrations in mollusks can be due more to natural factors than to human activity. Concentrations of PAHs in tissues of mussels from urban areas are in a range reported to exert biological responses.