National Status and Trends, Benthic Surveillance Project Pathology, 1984-1992, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

In order to determine the current status of and to detect any long-term trends in the environmental quality of U.S. nearshore waters, NOAA initiated the National Status and Trends program in 1984 with its National Benthic Surveillance Project. The primary objective of the Benthic Surveillance Project was to quantify concentrations of a suite of organic and inorganic contaminants in the livers of fish and surficial sediments from selected sites in the coastal and estuarine waters of the United States. In addition, the levels of certain indicators of the biological effects of these contaminants were measured. Incidences of visible lesions, including fin erosion, have been noted and histopathological examinations of various tissues have been carried out. Originally histopathological examinations determined the prevalence of any identifiable disease conditions in samples of liver, kidney, and gill tissue. Beginning in 1987 examinations became more focused on determining the prevalence of necrotic and proliferative lesions in the liver.

In response to concerns over environmental quality of the Nation's coastal and estuarine ecosystems, NOAA created the National Status and Trends (NSandT) Program in 1984. From 1984 through 1993, the Benthic Surveillance Project monitored chemical concentrations in the livers (and for metabolites of PAH's in the bile) of bottom-dwelling fish and in sediments at the sites of fish capture. The Benthic Surveillance Project also measured the biological effects of contaminant exposure, primarily as prevalence's of toxicopathic liver diseases.

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NOAA requests that all individuals who download NSandT data acknowledge the source of these data in any reports, papers, or presentations. If you publish these data, please include a statement similar to: "Some or all of the data described in this article were produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through its National Status and Trends Program".

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Once sampling in a certain geographic area is initiated, repeat sampling occurs during the same time frame. Northeast samples (Chesapeake Bay through Maine) have been collected during March and April. Southeast samples have been collected from August to October. Gulf Coast samples have been collected from August to October. West Coast samples have been taken from May through July. Alaska samples have been taken from May to August. The collection of fish was not directly tied to their spawning cycle, though different age classes may be found in certain estuaries during different times of the year.

The same kind of field/site data have been supplied since the start of the Benthic Surveillance Project, in 1984. Original site coordinates were derived from Loran-C time conversions. Early sites information resulting from Loran-C was converted from time delay information to latitudes and longitudes. These earlier data may be suspect when sites were located close to large structures that could have interfered with accurate time delays. When GPS was first available the signal was intentionally degraded so earlier coordinate information, even if it resulted from GPS, is not as accurate as data would be today.Because fish are not sessile, fish trawls have been made along different tracks in the water body of interest. The latitude/longitude coordinates provided in this file represent a site center and trawling occurs within a 1 km radius of this location.

Once sampling in a certain geographic area is initiated, repeat sampling occurs during the same time frame. Northeast samples (Chesapeake Bay through Maine) have been collected during March and April. Southeast samples have been collected from August to October. Gulf Coast samples have been collected from August to October. West Coast samples have been taken from May through July. Alaska samples have been taken from May to August. The collection of fish was not directly tied to their spawning cycle, though different age classes may be found in certain estuaries during different times of the year.The Benthic Surveillance Project Pathology dataset does not include data relating to the chemistry, or location data that is associated with each site.

Fish tissues for histopathological examination were prepared in the field because freezing destroys the morphology of tissue. Because most fish were dissected onboard ship, a special effort was made to develop an environment as close to clean-room conditions as possible. All fish were dissected in positive pressure laminar flow hoods. Air was drawn into the laminar flow hood from above and filtered by a high efficiency particle attenuator (HEPA) filter before it passed over the fish samples. Stainless steel tools were used to dissect fish for organic analysis. Titanium tools were used to dissect fish for trace metal analyses because tools made of this element do not pose the problem of introducing nickel, chromium, and/or iron into the specimens to be analyzed. Specimens were analyzed for the latter three elements by the NSandT Program. After knives had been sharpened, and before dissections began at a new site or of a new species, the dissection equipment was thoroughly cleaned with detergent solution, rinsed extensively with tap water, rinsed in distilled or high-purity water (i.e., milli-Q or HPLC-grade water), rinsed with isopropanol under a fume hood, followed by a rinse with distilled water, and placed on a similarly cleaned Teflon cutting board that was allowed to air-dry in the laminar-flow hood. Between individual fish of the same species at the same site, the tools were rinsed with distilled water before any fluid or tissue had a chance to dry on the knife. Sexually mature fish were primarily used in this program, determined by size of each species.