National Status and Trends, Benthic Surveillance Project Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydrolase (AHH) Data, 1988-1992, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

In order to determine the current status of and detect any long-term trends in the environmental quality of U.S. nearshore waters, NOAA initiated the National Status and Trends program in 1984 with its National Benthic Surveillance Project. The primary objective of the Benthic Surveillance Project was to quantify concentrations of a suite of organic and inorganic contaminants in the livers of fish and surficial sediments from selected sites in the coastal and estuarine waters of the United States. In addition, the levels of certain indicators of the biological effects of these contaminants were measured. Incidences of visible lesions, including fin erosion, have been noted and histopathological examinations of various tissues have been carried out. Originally histopathological examinations determined the prevalence of any identifiable disease conditions in samples of liver, kidney, and gill tissue.In addition the Benthic Surveillance Project analyzed fish liver tissue sample for cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) activities in liver via analysis for aryl hydrocarbon hydrolase (ahh). The induction of hepatic CYP1A activity is one of the earliest physiological changes detected after exposure to chemical contaminants. A number of studies have shown that measurement of these biochemical alterations combined with measurement of the above-mentioned injuries, give a more consistent assessment of contaminant exposure in indigenous fish that do single bioeffects measurements.

In response to concerns over environmental quality of the Nation's coastal and estuarine ecosystems, NOAA created the National Status and Trends (NSandT) Program in 1984. From 1984 through 1993, the Benthic Surveillance Project monitored chemical concentrations in the livers (and for metabolites of PAH's in the bile) of bottom-dwelling fish and in sediments at the sites of fish capture. The Benthic Surveillance Project also measured the biological effects of contaminant exposure, primarily as prevalence's of toxicopathic liver diseases.

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NOAA requests that all individuals who download NSandT data acknowledge the source of these data in any reports, papers, or presentations. If you publish these data, please include a statement similar to: "Some or all of the data described in this article were produced by NOAA through its National Status and Trends Program".

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The quality of the analytical data generated by the NSandT Program is overseen by the QA Project component, which has been in operation since 1985 and is designed to document sampling and analytical procedures, and to reduce intra-laboratory and inter-laboratory variation. The QA Project documentation will facilitate comparisons among different monitoring programs with similar QA activities and thus will extend the temporal and spatial scale of such programs. To document laboratory expertise, the QA Project requires all NSandT laboratories to participate in a continuing series of intercomparison exercises utilizing a variety of materials.

The same kind of field/site data have been supplied since the start of the Benthic Surveillance Project, in 1984. Original site coordinates were derived from Loran-C time conversions. Early sites information resulting from Loran-C was converted from time delay information to latitudes and longitudes. These earlier data may be suspect when sites were located close to large structures that could have interfered with accurate time delays. When GPS was first available the signal was intentionally degraded so earlier coordinate information, even if it resulted from GPS, is not as accurate as data would be today. Because fish are not sessile, fish trawls have been made along different tracks in the water body of interest. The latitude/ longitude coordinates provided in this file represent a site center and trawling occurs within a 1 km radius of this location.

Analytical protocols for the quantification of the NSandT organic contaminants were developed by MacLeod et al. (1984) at the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA. These methods were prescribed for all NMFS laboratories participating in the Benthic Surveillance Program, when it began in 1984. Three NMFS laboratories used these methods in 1984: Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), Gloucester, MA; Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), Charleston, SC; and Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC), Seattle WA. The philosophy associated with the development of exacting protocols for the quantification of organic contaminants was that the same analytical methods would increase the likelihood of data being comparable among laboratories. Even though interlaboratory comparisons were initiated at the start of the NSandT Program, it was felt that a method-driven QA and analytical effort for the quantification of organic contaminants was the best way to begin. In 1985, the protocols were updated by MacLeod et al., 1985. This method has been further edited and can be found in volume 1 of Technical Memorandum 71. The NSandT Mussel Watch Project (MWP) began in 1986. At that time, both the MWP and BSP laboratories were allowed to use any analytical method if it could be proven that the proposed alternate procedure was equal to or better than earlier MacLeod et al. (1984,1985) methods.

Fish in the correct size range were dissected in the onboard laboratory immediately after collection. This ensured that a determination could be made regarding whether sufficient material had been collected and whether the sample material was of high quality. If either one of these criteria was not met, the opportunity existed to continue sample collection. Also, field dissection minimizes contamination problems associated with dissection of frozen fish samples. Frozen fish tissues when thawed, may lose their integrity and one tissue type may contaminate another (e.g., a liver sample could be contaminated by PAH metabolites from the bile duct).Because most fish were dissected onboard ship, a special effort was made to develop an environment as close to clean-room conditions as possible. All fish were dissected in positive pressure laminar flow hoods. Air was drawn into the laminar flow hood from above and filtered by a high efficiency particle attenuator (HEPA) filter before it passed over the fish samples. Stainless steel tools were used to dissect fish for organic analysis. Titanium tools were used to dissect fish for trace metal analyses because tools made of this element do not pose the problem of introducing nickel, chromium, and/or iron into the specimens to be analyzed. Specimens were analyzed for the latter three elements by the NSandT Program. After knives had been sharpened, and before dissections began at a new site or of a new species, the dissection equipment was thoroughly cleaned with detergent solution, rinsed extensively with tap water, rinsed in distilled or high-purity water (i.e., milli-Q or HPLC-grade water), rinsed with isopropanol (dichloromethane before 1990) under a fume hood, followed by a rinse with distilled water, and placed on a similarly cleaned Teflon cutting board that was allowed to air-dry in the laminar-flow hood. Between individual fish of the same species at the same site, the tools were rinsed with distilled water before any fluid or tissue had a chance to dry on the knife. Sexually mature fish were primarily used in this program, determined by size of each species.