Assessment
of Existing and Potential Anthropogenic Effects of Contaminants
to Stellwagen Bank Fauna
A
description of the available data on water, sediment and biota
contaminant levels is presented elsewhere in this volume. The
aim of this section is to assess whether these current levels
of contaminants are having adverse effects on the organisms inhabiting
the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary. It is not enough to simply know
that a contaminant, even a totally synthetic toxicant, is present
in the environment or has been taken up by organisms. The mere
presence of a contaminant does not necessarily imply that an adverse
effect will occur. A determination must be made as to whether
the contaminant is present at a high enough concentration to cause
harm. A determination is also necessary regarding bioavailability
of the contaminant as well as its potential for adverse effects
on animal populations. This requires much more information than
that which is supplied solely by analytical chemistry.
In the present section, a variety of techniques will be applied
to the analytical data which have been gathered on chemical contaminants
from Stellwagen Bank water, sediments and biota. The primary emphasis
will be on the assessment of organism health, although human health
concerns, based on consumption of organisms harvested from the
Bank region, will also be addressed.
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