Environmental Monitoring Of Remedial Dredging At The New Bedford Harbor, Ma, Superfund Site

Bergen, Barbara J.; Nelson, William G.; Mackay, Joseph; Dickerson, David Stanley; Jayaraman, Saro

doi:10.1007/s10661-005-8223-4

Cited by 34 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Within a station over time (b), there is similar natural variability pattern at all stations, primarily due to the mussel reproductive cycle; however, the differences in PCB tissue concentration are maintained over the entire period (note difference in scales among stations) approach was that almost the entire UH, including the Hot Spot area, was to be dredged again during future remedial activities to obtain final PCB cleanup concentrations. An extensive operational water quality monitoring program was implemented to ensure this strategy worked (Bergen et al 2005), and operational water column monitoring has demonstrated that PCBs were not being transported to cleaner areas of the harbor. The LTM data show that the UH PCB sediment concentrations were back to baseline in 1999 (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1], several remedial activities have occurred in the subtidal area. The "Hot Spot" remediation removed sediments with PCB concentrations greater than 4,000 ppm and was completed in the fall of 1995 (Bergen et al 2005). Limited dredging occurred between 2000 and 2004, and full-scale dredging to remove "Operable Unit 1" sediments began in 2004 in the UH.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The New Bedford Harbor Superfund site long-term monitoring program (1993–2009)

Nelson

Bergen

2012

Environ Monit Assess

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New Bedford Harbor (NBH), located in southeastern Massachusetts, was designated as a marine Superfund site in 1983 due to sediment contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Based on risks to human health and the environment, the first two phases of the site cleanup involved dredging PCB-contaminated sediments from the harbor. Therefore, a long-term monitoring program (LTM) was developed to measure spatial and temporal chemical and biological changes in sediment, water, and biota to assess the effects and effectiveness of the remedial activities. A systematic, probabilistic sampling design was used to select sediment sampling stations. This unbiased design allowed the three segments of the harbor to be compared spatially and temporally to quantify changes resulting from dredging the contaminated sediments. Sediment was collected at each station, and chemical (e.g., PCBs and metals), physical (e.g., grain size), and biological (e.g., benthic community) measurements were conducted on all samples. This paper describes the overall NBH-LTM approach and the results from the five rounds of sample collections. There is a decreasing spatial gradient in sediment PCB concentrations from the northern boundary (upper harbor) to the southern boundary (outer harbor) of the site. Along this same transect, there is an increase in biological condition (e.g., benthic community diversity). Temporally, the contaminant and biological gradients have been maintained since the 1993 baseline collection; however, since the onset of full-scale remediation, PCB concentrations have decreased throughout the site, and one of the benthic community indices has shown significant improvement in the lower and outer harbor areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The New Bedford Harbor Superfund site long-term monitoring program (1993–2009)

Nelson

Bergen

2012

Environ Monit Assess

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“…Industrial wastes were discharged directly into the harbor from the 1940s to the 1970s, producing contamination of sufficient magnitude to warrant listing on the US EPA's National Priorities List as a Superfund site (Bergen, Nelson, Mackay, Dickerson, & Jayaraman, 2005; Nelson et al., 1996). Sediment PCB levels near discharge were measured as high as 100,000 μg/g dry weight (Weaver, 1984), and at other areas of the Superfund site have been measured as 2,100 μg/g dry weight in NBH (total PCBs) (Pruell et al., 1990), or >10,000 times greater than the sediment guideline value for total PCBs that has been correlated with probable adverse biological effects (180 ng/g dry weight) (Long, Macdonald, Smith, & Calder, 1995).…”

Section: Introduction To the Killifish Story: Rapid Adaptation To Extmentioning

confidence: 99%

When evolution is the solution to pollution: Key principles, and lessons from rapid repeated adaptation of killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) populations

Whitehead

Clark

Reid

et al. 2017

Evolutionary Applications

128

102

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For most species, evolutionary adaptation is not expected to be sufficiently rapid to buffer the effects of human‐mediated environmental changes, including environmental pollution. Here we review how key features of populations, the characteristics of environmental pollution, and the genetic architecture underlying adaptive traits, may interact to shape the likelihood of evolutionary rescue from pollution. Large populations of Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) persist in some of the most contaminated estuaries of the United States, and killifish studies have provided some of the first insights into the types of genomic changes that enable rapid evolutionary rescue from complexly degraded environments. We describe how selection by industrial pollutants and other stressors has acted on multiple populations of killifish and posit that extreme nucleotide diversity uniquely positions this species for successful evolutionary adaptation. Mechanistic studies have identified some of the genetic underpinnings of adaptation to a well‐studied class of toxic pollutants; however, multiple genetic regions under selection in wild populations seem to reflect more complex responses to diverse native stressors and/or compensatory responses to primary adaptation. The discovery of these pollution‐adapted killifish populations suggests that the evolutionary influence of anthropogenic stressors as selective agents occurs widely. Yet adaptation to chemical pollution in terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate wildlife may rarely be a successful “solution to pollution” because potentially adaptive phenotypes may be complex and incur fitness costs, and therefore be unlikely to evolve quickly enough, especially in species with small population sizes.

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“…The ''Hot Spot'' remediation removed sediments with PCB concentrations greater than 4000 ppm and was completed in the fall of 1995 (Nelson and Bergen, 2012;Bergen et al, 2005). The Superfund Site is currently being extensively remediated, and the overall goals of the project are to: (a) reduce the health risks due to the consumption of PCB-contaminated local seafood, (b) reduce the health risks due to contact with the PCBcontaminated shoreline sediments, and (c) improve the quality of the Harbor's highly degraded marine ecosystem (EPA ROD, 1998).…”

Section: Implications Of Pcbs and Other Contaminants In The Yoy Bluefishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in young-of-the-year bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) in the vicinity of a Superfund Site in New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts, and in the adjacent waters

Deshpande

Dockum

Cleary

et al. 2013

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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a b s t r a c tSpatial gradients of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides were examined in the young-of-the-year (YOY) bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) in the vicinity of a PCB Superfund Site in New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts, and in the adjacent waters. PCB concentrations in bluefish varied between different locations, and also among fish from a given location. A generally decreasing gradient in PCB concentrations was evident as the bluefish were collected away from the Superfund Site. The average sum of PCB concentrations were highest for bluefish collected in the Upper Harbor between Interstate-195 Bridge and Coggeshall Street Bridge (Upper Harbor), followed by bluefish in Lower Harbor from north of Popes Island Bridge (Lower Harbor), and bluefish from Outer Harbor south of Hurricane Barrier (Outer Harbor). The levels of PCBs in bluefish from Clarks Cove and PCBs in bluefish from Buzzards Bay were similar and lowest among all bluefish specimens analyzed in the present study. Pesticide concentrations were about one order of magnitude or lower than the PCB concentrations, and the gradient of pesticide concentrations generally followed the gradient of PCB concentrations. Some of the commonly detected pesticides in the order of decreasing concentrations included DDTs and metabolites, heptachlor epoxide, endosulfan sulfate, and a-chlordane. Distribution of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides were examined in the tissues of YOY bluefish from Clarks Cove. PCBs and lipids in the brain samples of YOY bluefish were generally numerically greater than PCBs in the liver samples, but these differences were not statistically significant. PCBs and lipids in hypaxial muscle samples were numerically greater than PCBs in epaxial muscle samples, although these two groups of tissues were not statistically different. Despite the higher susceptibility of lighter PCB homologs to geophysical and biogeochemical weathering processes, the relative dominance of lighter homologs in the Upper Harbor and Lower Harbor samples suggested ongoing or recent sources of these lighter PCBs, particularly Aroclor 1242 and Aroclor 1016 in this area. The presence of heavier homologs in the Upper Harbor and Lower Harbor bluefish samples could be attributed to Aroclor 1252 and Aroclor 1254 that were being used in relatively smaller quantities in the manufacture of electrical components in addition to Aroclor 1242 and Aroclor 1016. The concentration of heavier PCB homologs appears to increase in YOY bluefish the further away from the PCB Superfund Site in the Acushnet Estuary the samples were collected. Principal component analyses of PCB 153 normalized concentrations of the individual PCB congeners resulted in two general groupings; a relatively tight group comprised of YOY bluefish from Upper Harbor, Lower Harbor, and Outer Harbor, and a rather loose and more dispersed group comprised of Buzzards Bay bluefish and the tissue samples of bluefish from Clarks Cove. Principal component analyses of major pesticides suggested close gro...

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Environmental Monitoring Of Remedial Dredging At The New Bedford Harbor, Ma, Superfund Site

Cited by 34 publications

References 19 publications

The New Bedford Harbor Superfund site long-term monitoring program (1993–2009)

The New Bedford Harbor Superfund site long-term monitoring program (1993–2009)

When evolution is the solution to pollution: Key principles, and lessons from rapid repeated adaptation of killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) populations

Bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in young-of-the-year bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) in the vicinity of a Superfund Site in New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts, and in the adjacent waters

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