James M Haynes and Sara Wellman
State University of New York, USA and Pellissippi State Community College, USA
Title: Multiple approaches for delisting two beneficial use impairments in great lakes areas of concern
Biography
Biography: James M Haynes and Sara Wellman
Abstract
Since 1987, the International Joint Commission has designated 43 Areas of Concern (AOC), where pollutants impair beneficial uses of water bodies that contribute to the Laurentian Great Lakes. Using the mink (Neovison vison) as a sentinel species, we have used multiple research approaches to help federal and state agencies determine whether two Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI), “Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations” and “Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems,” can be delisted for three AOCs in New York State. Mink are ideal for delisting these BUIs, because they are at top of contaminated aquatic food webs and are one of the most sensitive mammals to legacy pollutants in the Great Lakes, especially PCBs and dioxins/furans. We have used three approaches to address delisting criteria: Chemical analysis of PCB/dioxin/furan congeners and total mercury in mink tissues to compare with regulatory standards; Determining the incidence of cancerous jaw lesions, the most sensitive biomarker of effect in mink; and Bioaccumulation modeling based on concentrations in water and mink prey. Our results indicate that, delisting of the two BUIs can occur in Rochester Embayment and Buffalo River AOCs, but not in the Niagara River AOC. We recommend that management agencies consider replacing the sacrifice of mink with bioaccumulation modeling in future delisting studies.