National Status and Trends, Benthic Surveillance Project Sites, 1984-1992, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

This data set reports information regarding the nominal sampling locations for the National Status and Trends Benthic Surveillance Project sites. One record is presented per site. Each record reports the five letter site acronym, site sequence number, general and specific location information, state abbreviation, state name, degree-minute-second coordinates, decimal degree coordinates, and species information, among other things. The actual site coordinate information is recorded at the time of sampling, if samples were taken at a location other than the nominal site center. The five letter acronym is based on both the general location information and more specific location information (e.g. SFSM is San Francisco-San Mateo Bridge). The file also contains sequence numbers that facilitate geographic manipulation of the data. Sites are numbered sequentially from the northern most site on the U.S. East coast (i.e. Penobscot Bay-Pickering Island) and continue counter-clockwise around the country.

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 SurveillanceProject 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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The National Status and Trends Program (NSandT) 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."

Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.2.0.700

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. When GPS was first available the signal wasintentionally degraded so earlier coordinate information, even if it resulted from GPS, is not as accurate as data would be today. 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. These concerns apply specifically to the first National Status and Trends sites document, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 70, National Status and Trends Program: Monitoring Site Descriptions (1984-1990) for the National Mussel Watch and Benthic Surveillance Projects.

Using site selection criteria similar to those used for the Mussel Watch Project, the NBSP monitored contaminant exposure and bioeffects at more than 120 sites nationwide. The National Benthic Surveillance Program existed from 1984 through 1992. This was a cooperative effort between NOS and the National Marine Fisheries Service's Northwest, Southeast, and Northeast Fisheries Science Centers.The Benthic Surveillance Project Sites dataset does not include information relating to the chemistry, quality assurance, or pathology data that is associated with each site.

Field sample processing is minimal while laboratory sample processing is extensive. The same kind of field/site data have been supplied since the start of the Benthic Surveillance Project, in 1984.