| Summary: | Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) Long Term (oil) Monitoring Program data from mussel tissues, intertidal and subtidal sediments from fixed monitoring sites in Prince William Sound, Outer Kenai Coast and Kodiak, Alaska. Since 1993, the council has monitored samples from mussels and sediments at 10 sites in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. The samples are monitored for the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons. Samples are collected in summer and late winter and results are presented in an annual report. This information provides a benchmark for assessing the ongoing impacts of routine tanker and terminal operations. The program has sampled twice a year since 1994 for evidence of hydrocarbons in mussel tissue and sediment samples. In recent years, the program was cut back to just mussel tissue at all sites with subtidal sediments only in Port Valdez (site of Alyeska Marine Terminal's tanker operations). For more complete sampling in Port Valdez, mussels are also collected in October. All samples are analyzed for PAH and AHC; sediments are also analzyed for TOC and sediment grain size. Results from PWSRCAC's studies indicate a variety of sources of hydrocarbons in Prince William Sound including the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, operations at the Alyeska terminal, combustion sources, boating and shipping activities, normal oil seepage or coal deposits, biological processes, and atmospheric fallout. Generally, the hydrocarbon levels detected under LTEMP have been relatively low. The stations farthest from the Alyeska terminal show low hydrocarbon levels, while those closest to the terminal show higher levels. Concern over the hydrocarbon levels at the terminal prompted PWSRCAC to add an additional sampling effort at the two Port Valdez stations in the fall of each year. DATA CAN BE ACCESSED ON THE PWSRCAC WEBSITE: http://www.pwsrcac.org/programs/environmental-monitoring/ltemp/ REFERENCES: ***Folk, Robert L. (1974). Petrology of sedimentary rocks. Austin, Texas : Hemphill Publishing Co. ***Kinnetic Laboratories, Inc. (KLI), 2002. 2000-2002 LTEMP Monitoring Report. Prepared for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council Long-Term Environmental Monitoring Program. 94 pp. and appendices. ***Larsen, M.L. and L.G. Holland 2004. Standard operating procedure for the determination of particle grain size in marine sediments analyzed at the Auke Bay Laboratory. Auke Bay Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries.
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