Watershed-Wide Actions

Ongoing

  • Working in the Susquehanna and Potomac watersheds, generating information to document fish health in the watershed.
  • Monitoring levels of PCBS in fish and shellfish and moving contaminated sites toward cleanup.
  • Better defining the sources of PCBs, including those on land, through stormwater and through atmospheric deposition.
  • Considering the developing of a PCB mass balance model for the Chesapeake Bay.
  • Better defining the sources and occurrence of endocrine disruptors and other contaminant groups affecting the health of fish and wildlife in the watershed.
  • Better defining the potential impacts of unconventional oil and gas activities.
  • Generating information on mercury in order to determine whether regional strategies are needed to supplement national efforts to reduce its impact on fish and associated consumption advisories.
  • Developing approaches to assess the relative risk of contaminants to help inform policy and prevention strategies.
  • Sharing approaches for assessing relative risk with the Toxic Contaminants Workgroup to the workgroup can consider options for mitigating contaminant impacts.

July – December 2016

  • Using existing information to provide overviews of the effects toxic contaminants can have on fisheries and shellfish.
  • Summarizing existing studies and considering additional research activities to assess the effects of toxic contaminants on wildlife.
  • Better defining the sources and occurrence of contaminant groups in tidal waters.

Actions in Maryland

  • Assessing the effects of toxic contaminants on fish and shellfish in the tidal Potomac River. (Ongoing)
  • Generating information on select pesticides in order to help the Toxic Contaminants Workgroup consider a future management strategy. (2016)