Egg and larval mortality data between oiled and nonoiled areas of Prince William Sound, Alaska following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in 1989

Study History: Fish/Shellfish Study Number 11 was initiated as a State/Federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment project as part of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill study plan and continued through the 1992 work plan. Most components of this report were published in October 1996 in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, vol. 53(10), followed by one article published in August 1997 in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, vol. 54(8). Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to estimate and compare egg larval mortality between oiled and nonoiled areas of the sound. Secondary objectives flowed from the requirements of estimating egg larval mortality and involved analyses of ancillary variables, such as depth profiles of temperature and salinity, width of egg beds and the depth distribution of eggs, mean length of larvae, rate of growth of larval length, and rate of reduction in larval density at plankton stations. Publications: McGurk, M.D., and Brown, E.D. 1996. Egg-larva mortality of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound, Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53: 2343-2354. Marty GD, Hose JE, McGurk MD, Brown ED. 1997. Histopathology and cytogenetic evaluation of Pacific herring larvae exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons in the laboratory or in Prince William Sound, Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 54: 1846-1857. Injury to Prince William Sound herring following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. 1998. Compiled by Evelyn D. Brown, Timothy T. Baker. Fish/Shellfish Study Number 11, USFW. Anchorage, AK: EVOS Trustee Council.