Mussel Watch Program

NOAA describes the goal of Mussel Watch as "to support ecosystem-based management through an integrated nationwide program of environmental monitoring, assessment and research to describe the status and trends of our nation's estuaries and coasts." In 2010 and 2012 Western Washington University students assisted Whatcom County Public Works. Mussel Watch originally monitored areas known for contamination where data would be easily found and monitored for trends in the toxicity data. Now the focus is to shift to areas of concern directed by organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Instead of focusing just on trends in the data Mussel Watch is looking to see if a given policy has actually made a positive impact on a specific environment. == Structure ==

National level Mussel Watch uses a combination of national oversight from NOAA with a network of regional and local groups to monitor coastal health throughout the United States. NOAA and its National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has a staff of scientists throughout the United States and partners with other Federal, State, non-governmental organization, and private sector partners throughout the world to work together towards achieving the goals of the Mussel Watch Program. Contamination in one coastal region can lead to effects in areas thousands of miles away and having a nationwide monitoring program enables NOAA to track these effects. Regional and local level A complete list of Mussel Watch regions follows. • Great Lakes (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and New York states) • Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) • Northern California (North of Point Conception) • Southern California (Point Conception and South) • Western Gulf Coast (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) • Eastern Gulf Coast (Florida Gulf Coast) • Southeast (South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida Atlantic coast) • Middle Atlantic (New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina) • Lower Northeast (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) • Upper Northeast (Maine and New Hampshire) An example of the collaboration between national and local groups is the Washington state 2009/10 Mussel Watch Pilot Project. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program (PSAMP), Snohomish County Marine Resources Committee (MRC), Snohomish County Public Works-Surface Water Management, Washington Sea Grant, and NOAA's Mussel Watch collaborated to; "conduct field-sampling for the 2009/10 Mussel Watch season in Washington waters, evaluate the possibility of merging field sampling with existing toxic contaminant monitoring in Puget Sound, demonstrate and evaluate the use citizen scientists as a primary resource for conducting field work and investigate the feasibility of Mussel Watch as a monitoring tool in Puget Sound." == Program design ==

Contaminants of interest More than 140 chemical contaminants (analytes) are monitored by the Mussel Watch Program. The EPA lists many of these analytes as Priority Pollutants under the Clean Water Act. Due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill the resources at these labs were shifted towards chemical analyses of the high-priority samples for the Gulf of Mexico. This caused significant delays, in some cases of more than a year, of analysis results for the Mussel Watch Program. == Projects and publications ==

Past projects National Tissue and Sediment Sample Archive: Many of NOAA's projects incorporate different programs to obtain the desired information. The National Status and Trends program of NOAA's started using mussel, oyster, and zebra mussel samples collected under the Mussel Watch Program in 1985 as a means to start specimen banking. This bank of samples allows NOAA to take a snapshot of certain contaminants of interest at any point in time allowing, through the use of analytical techniques, the tissue concentrations of the desired compound. This allows regulators to better understand the history of a certain compound. Another project that took advantage of the Mussel Watch program was the assessment of coastal waters impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. By examining shallow waters for concentrations of DDT, conventional chlorinated pesticides, PCBs, PAHs, and metals after the hurricane NOAA scientists were able to compare results with the past 20 years of monitoring data from the same area. This consistent and historical record of contaminants from the Mussel Watch program proved effective in analyzing the impacts of Hurricane Katrina. Pathology of parasites in bivalves, using oysters and mussels collected via the Mussel Watch program tissue samples were investigated for parasites. The change in abundance of parasites geographically and over time can be a good indicator of exposure to a contaminant. The results of these pathology screenings have been used to show levels of contamination and have affected regulatory decisions. Notable publications Mussel Watch publishes reports approximately every 2 years concerning most sites and regions. Some compilations and other notable publications historically produced include: • An Assessment of Two Decades of Contaminant Monitoring in the Nation's Coastal Zone Current projects ''Great Lakes Mussel Watch Supports the President's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative'' is one of the many ongoing projects by Mussel Watch. This project, receiving attention and funding from the President's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), is a typical example of the types of projects Mussel Watch is being used for. Looking at Areas of Concern (AOC) in the US Great Lakes, Mussel Watch has increased sampling sizes and rates as well as updated techniques including doing caged mussel testing when shellfish beds are not available. By looking at both sediment and mussel tissue concentrations researches have been able to better identify remediation efforts at Great Lake AOC. Like many other current Mussel Watch projects, the GLRI is using both historical data from Mussel Watch as well as increasingly more temporally and spatially prioritized data leading to more robust data sets far more applicable to specific AOC. == Significance ==

Mussels are the organism of choice for monitoring contaminant levels in the coastal regions for a number of reasons. Most mussels are generally sessile and cannot move to another location if their environment has become contaminated; this makes them good measures of environmental pollution. Mussels do not readily metabolize some of the organics that vertebrates do, making them a better choice when tracking substances such as PAHs. In addition, most mussels are filter feeders and filter water through their bodies to feed. This filtration makes them prime targets for picking up contaminants in the water. Due to the nature of their filter feeding, bivalves allow Mussel Watch to tracks changes in contamination levels in the environment by monitoring bivalve tissue concentrations. This is important because it can show whether a policy that is meant to protect and clean the environment or an ecosystem is actually working. Mussel Watch can be used to evaluate current policies to determine what, if any, changes need to be made to ensure that there is an improvement in environmental health. == See also ==