On May 30-31, NOAA Mussel Watch program data, collected by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, was presented at ‘Mercury in the Great Lakes,’ a workshop organized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office/Region 5 and the U.S. Geological Survey.
NCCOS has been monitoring a wide array of contaminants, including mercury, in the Great Lakes since 1992, using bivalves as indicators. The program has long-term data on total mercury in mussels from 23 monitoring sites as well as 30 additional sites which were added to support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
NCCOS scientists analyzed the historical and recent total mercury and methylmercury data to describe the status and trends of mercury in mussels in the Great Lakes. NCCOS’ EPA partner, the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program, will present the data at the workshop.
The outcome of this workshop will be a white paper that summarizes the major findings and recommendationspresented by the participants.