Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Fish Projects:
Pink Salmon Review and Synthesis

Principal Investigator:
Stanley D. Rice
(907) 789-6020
Jeep.Rice@noaa.gov


Pink Salmon Synthesis Final Report

View Poster:  Pink Salmon Synthesis

Four EV0S-ABL research projects on pink salmon are being conducted:

1. Review and synthesis
2. Toxicity to eggs
3. Oiled spawning habitat
4. Straying impacts
   

The ABL's oil toxicity studies on pink salmon have far-reaching relevance, particularly for urbanized watersheds and estuaries of the coastal U.S. In urbanized waterways, many coastal habitats have continuous input of hydrocarbons due to runoff as development continues. Of the 9,692 miles of United States coastline outside Alaska, over two-thirds are considered urban. Studies in the literature estimate that, on a per capita basis, the United States spills about a quart of oil per person per year. Fifty million people spill more than 12 million gallons of oil per year, which is equivalent to the Exxon Valdez spill. Unfortunately, that quantity is spilled this year, next year, and the years following. Given the high toxicity of PAHs to eggs, chronic input of hydrocarbons in streams, bays, and estuaries may limit recruitment of fish populations far more than was previously supposed.