Sydney Tar Ponds Impacts and Clean-up: Sediment and biota surveys of Sydney Harbour, December 1995

In December 1995 a field sampling program collected samples of sediment, lobster and mussels from Sydney Harbour to assess the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and metals in sediment and the levels of PAHs in lobster and mussels and PCBs in lobster. The study was initiated to collect baseline data on the conditions of the harbour prior to commencement of a proposed remediation of the Sydney Tar Ponds and to assess the changes in the levels of contaminants from previous surveys, conducted in 1981 and 1986.

Species distribution information associated with the contaminant study of the harbour and Muggah creek (JWEL-IT 1996)) were digitized, standardized and republished by Cape Breton University (CBU) as part of the Atlantic Coastal Zone Information Steering Committee (ACZISC) Atlantic Ecosystem Initiative (AEI) funded project \"Atlantic Canada's Biological Data for Ecosystem Planning and Decision Making\" and OBIS Canada.

This resource contains mussel (Mytilus edulis, Modiolus modiolus) and lobster (Homarus americanus) presence only information included in the project report. Specimens were collected for laboratory analysis and no attempt was made to determine abundance. For information on the contaminant measurements please refer to the source report (JWEL-IT 1996).