National Status and Trends, Mussel Watch Program: A 2015 Assessment of Legacy Organic Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay, MD

Since 1986, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s (NCCOS) National Status and Trends (NS&T) Mussel Watch Program (MWP) has monitored the nation’s coastal waters for chemical contaminants and biological indicators of water quality. Beginning in 2014, NCCOS undertook the task of redesigning the MWP to focus on a rotating regional model in order to cater to regional and local scientific data and information needs. Using the MWP’s regional design paradigm, the Chesapeake Bay study focused on the use of wild oysters at historic MWP monitoring sites and caged oysters at new, targeted, riverine sites. The combination of historic and targeted sites provided the potential to better understand land-use influence on the distribution of the contaminants being measured.