Monitoring Tissue Concentrations of Chromium and Fish Condition in Juvenile Fall Chinook Salmon from the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River

Abstract

This study involved the collection of juvenile fall Chinook salmon and Columbia River water samples to assess whether fall Chinook salmon were exposed to chromium that upwells into the river from contaminated groundwater originating at the Hanford Site. Juvenile fall Chinook salmon were seined and water samples were collected from three locations in the Hanford Reach during the period of juvenile salmon freshwater residency in early May, mid-May, and mid-June 2002. The concentrations of chromium in fish and river water were measured and the overall conditions of the fish were evaluated. Sample collection focused on the 100-D and 100-H Areas, which were the locations most likely to have elevated chromium concentrations in the environment based on groundwater monitoring data. The Vernita Bridge area served as an upstream reference site for all samples. All Columbia River water concentrations for chromium determined during this study were less than or equal to 0.1 µg/L, which were below the Washington State ambient surface-water quality criteria of 10 µg/L. Body burdens of chromium were not statistically different for fish collected at the 100-D and 100-H Areas compared to the Vernita Bridge location; thus, there was no indication of elevated exposure or uptake of Hanford sources of chromium. No gross morphological anomalies were noted in any fish collected during this effort. Histological assessments for fish examined during this study exhibited normal and healthy tissues and comparison of fish body lengths and weights from these locations revealed no evidence of physiological stress for organisms collected near the 100-D or 100-H Areas. Taken collectively, these results indicated that there was no impact to juvenile fall Chinook salmon from chromium released into the Columbia River from Hanford during 2002. v

Ecological information and approaches needed for risk communication dialogs for acute or chronic environmental crises

“…The tangible outcome of the project, which required over 5 years to complete, was a report to DOE laying out our findings (Burger et al., 2015; CRESP, 2015; Gochfeld & Burger, 2014). The main findings were that: (1) salmon life cycles are varied and complex (involving spring and fall runs, Healey, 1991), (2) having good population estimates by species and runs is critical (Hyun et al., 2012a,b), (3) several species of salmon spend a significant part of their life cycle in the Columbia River (and mainly in the Hanford Reach) where they spawn (Hayes et al., 2013), (4) contaminants are not viewed generally by the State or DOE as a significant stressor on salmon, especially compared to other stressors (CRESP, 2015; NRC, 1996; Regetz, 2003; Tiller et al., 2004), (5) laboratory experiments indicated that there is a great deal of variability in results, no effects were found at Hanford‐relevant chromium exposures on fertilization, hatching, and exposure of alevins (early stage on salmon), but there were some laboratory effects of chromium on later stages of fry (Farag et al., 2006a,b; Patton et al., 2007), and (6) at some periods of time the fry may be vulnerable to chromium if they remain near the gravel surface where the pore water and river water meet (Burger et al., 2015; CRESP, 2015; Gochfeld & Burger, 2014). The Tribes, however, remained concerned about potential long‐term effects of contaminants on eggs and fry of salmon (especially the DNA, R. Jim, Nov. 2014).…”

Metal levels and accumulation patterns of sea lamprey ammocoetes (Petromyzon marinusLinnaeus, 1758) from a tidal freshwater habitat

“…Aquatic species show a wide range of Cr concentrations in their tissues. Ambedkar and Muniyan (2011) report Cr levels ranging from 0.70 to 1.28 ppm in the muscle of several freshwater species from contaminated areas and Tiller et al (2004) obtained Cr as high as 9.4 ppm in Oncorhynchus spp. The concentrations of Cr in ammocoetes ranged from 0.270 to 1.57 ppm and apparently do not seem to change with size (P= 0.500).…”