Pollution Tracker: Long-term Monitoring of Priority Contaminants in Coastal British Columbia

• Main Author: Delisle, Kelsey
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Western CEDAR 2022
• Subjects: British Columbia; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: https://cedar.wwu.edu/ssec/2022ssec/allsessions/230; https://cedar.wwu.edu/context/ssec/article/3392/viewcontent/259_fdaca0768dff454fb67a44386870dfa9.pdf

Pollution Tracker is the first long-term marine pollution monitoring program in Canada (pollutiontracker.org). Established in 2015, the program currently operates coast-wide in British Columbia (BC) with over 60 sampling sites established to date. Collaboration with coastal First Nations, government agencies, port authorities, industry, and community groups has enabled the completion of Phase 1 and 2 and the implementation of Phase 3. Mussels and nearshore subtidal sediment are being used to monitor spatial and temporal trends of both legacy and emerging contaminants of concern. Over 450 individual analytes from 14 contaminant classes are being measured using high-resolution analysis. Both current-use and legacy chemicals and microplastics are being detected, including those identified as priority contaminants of concern for southern resident killer whales (SRKW) and their prey. Despite documented declines of legacy contaminants in the Salish Sea since regulations were implemented (i.e., PCBs, PBDEs), they continue to pose risks to marine organisms, and inputs of currently used, less well understood contaminants are increasing. Long-term monitoring of these contaminants at the base of the food chain will provide an overview of the state of the marine environment, inform on distribution and persistence, and provide data that can be used to assess potential adverse health effects and influence policy decisions.