Forecasting fish biomasses, densities, productions, and bioaccumulation potentials of mid-atlantic wadeable streams

• Published in: Integrated environmental assessment and management 2016-01, Vol.12 (1), p.146-159
• Main Authors: Barber, M Craig, Rashleigh, Brenda, Cyterski, Michael J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic environment; Benchmarks; Bioaccumulation; Biological magnification; Biomass; Creeks & streams; Environmental monitoring; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental protection; Fish; Fisheries; Fishes; Food Chain; Forecasting; Humans; Methylmercury; Methylmercury Compounds - analysis; Mid-Atlantic Region; Models, Biological; Mountains; North Carolina; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Population density; Production; Rivers; Simulation modeling; Streams; United States; United States Environmental Protection Agency; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
• ISSN: 1551-3777; 1551-3793
• DOI: 10.1002/ieam.1644

Regional fishery conditions of Mid‐Atlantic wadeable streams in the eastern United States are estimated using the Bioaccumulation and Aquatic System Simulator (BASS) bioaccumulation and fish community model and data collected by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). Average annual biomasses and population densities and annual productions are estimated for 352 randomly selected streams. Realized bioaccumulation factors (BAF) and biomagnification factors (BMF), which are dependent on these forecasted biomasses, population densities, and productions, are also estimated by assuming constant water exposures to methylmercury and tetra‐, penta‐, hexa‐, and hepta‐chlorinated biphenyls. Using observed biomasses, observed densities, and estimated annual productions of total fish from 3 regions assumed to support healthy fisheries as benchmarks (eastern Tennessee and Catskill Mountain trout streams and Ozark Mountains smallmouth bass streams), 58% of the region's wadeable streams are estimated to be in marginal or poor condition (i.e., not healthy). Using simulated BAFs and EMAP Hg fish concentrations, we also estimate that approximately 24% of the game fish and subsistence fishing species that are found in streams having detectable Hg concentrations would exceed an acceptable human consumption criterion of 0.185 μg/g wet wt. Importantly, such streams have been estimated to represent 78.2% to 84.4% of the Mid‐Atlantic's wadeable stream lengths. Our results demonstrate how a dynamic simulation model can support regional assessment and trends analysis for fisheries. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:146–159. Published 2015 SETAC. This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States. Key Points Our work demonstrates how a simulation model can be integrated with field monitoring data to forecast average annual fish biomasses, population densities, annual productions, and patterns of bioaccumulation for methylmercury and other persistent bioaccumulative toxicants. Our work demonstrates that holistic multidimensional assessments of fishery resources can be performed as an integrated whole. We believe that this work represents a major integration not only of field monitoring and simulation modeling but also of the population, community, and ecotoxicological sciences that will be a significant contribution to both researchers and resource managers.