PollutionTracker: A new partner-based initiative to monitoring coastal contamination

Abstract

Research and monitoring of contaminants in the marine environment have been important in prioritizing pollutants of concern, devising mitigation strategies and documenting environmental responses to regulations and source control. Despite site-specific monitoring efforts for some contaminants in some areas, there exists today a distinct lack of information on contaminant trends or concerns across coastal British Columbia. The PollutionTracker is a novel Vancouver Aquarium-led initiative that is bringing multiple partners together to create an open and harmonized environmental monitoring framework. PollutionTracker is implementing stringent site selection, sample collection, analytical and interpretative protocols in support of a coast-wide contaminant assessment in nearshore British Columbia. High resolution contaminant analyses performed every two years on samples of sediments and mussels will provide insight into the state of the coastal environment. These two matrices have been routinely used by managers and stakeholders in the US, Europe and Asia to, but has never been carried out in Canada. PollutionTracker plans to link with ongoing initiatives across the border while it aims to provide information on status and trends on a variety of priority pollutants that will in turn improve our understanding of source, transport, fate and effects of these substances, risks to biota, and the safety of traditional seafoods for coastal First Nations