Bioeffects Assessment for Soft Bottom Benthic Habitats, Animal Body Burdens and Contaminant Baseline in Kvichak and Nushagak Bay, Alaska, 2013-2014

Between 2013-2014, this study assessed habitat conditions in Bristol Bay, Alaska that influence biodiversity and distribution of benthic infaunal communities, contaminants, and chemical body burdens of resident organisms as measures of environmental health. Bristol Bay boasts one of the largest commercial and subsistence salmon fisheries in the world. Significant mining activities have been proposed within the bay’s watershed that could impact Bristol Bay chemistry and biology, but baseline data are lacking. Baseline data will be essential for monitoring pollution control effectiveness in the watershed. The datasets generated from this study were incorporated into the NOAA's National Status and Trend (NS&T) Program database which has been developing a dynamic quantitative database on contaminants, toxicity and benthic infaunal species distribution assessed in the coastal U.S. since 1991. This is a collaborative effort between the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), the Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Data are presented as one CSV file: NPRB-1315_ Bioeffects_Assessment_in_Kvichak_and_Nushagak_Bay_Alaska.csv