Aquatic ecosystem condition: The Fraser River Action Plan approach
- Environment Canada, North Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
- Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario (Canada). National Water Research Inst.
A major goal of the Canadian government`s Fraser River Action Plan (FRAP) is to clean up existing pollution problems in the Fraser River Basin. In support of this goal, the Environmental Quality Assessment Program is assessing the quality of the aquatic environment, particularly with respect to contaminants. The program, conducted from 1993 to 1998, is to establish a baseline condition for the aquatic ecosystem against which the success of clean up efforts can be measured. The FRAP approach is to use a combination of contaminant exposure or stressor indicators and organism ``effects`` indicators. The focus is on three components of the aquatic ecosystem: (1) bed sediment, (2) resident fish and (3) benthos. A priority for the program is integration of the three components, wherever possible. Bed sediments, as indicators of contaminant stress, are sampled at fourteen reaches in the river and major tributaries. Two species of resident fish are sampled and analyzed for condition factors, enzyme induction, histopathology and contaminant content at each of nine sites in the basin. The resident fish data are providing a measure of contaminant exposure and effect. Organism community effects will be assessed by a study which is classifying approximately 200 tributary and mainstem sites based on benthos community structure. For the first time in a large river system in Canada, this benthos study uses a multivariate approach which relates a suite of chemical and physical characteristics to benthos community structure.
- OSTI ID:
- 212066
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9617%%382
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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