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U.S. Department of Energy
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Injury to crabs outside Prince William Sound. Fish/shellfish study number 22. Exxon Valdez oil spill state/federal natural resources damage assessment final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:426712
Commercial Dungeness crab fisheries exist near Kodiak Island and the eastern Alaska Peninsula. Both areas lie within the trajectory of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Thirty nine sites in the region were sampled in 1989 and 1990 to assess petroleum hydrocarbon contamination of crab tissues and benthic sediments with which crabs were associated. Female crabs were found in small numbers at 15 sites. Eight of these sites exhibited low levels of petroleum hydrocarbons in the sediments. Only two of the eight sites showed oil contamination that could be linked convincingly to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. None of the crab tissue samples showed evidence of contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons.
Research Organization:
National Marine Fisheries Service, Auke Bay, AK (United States). Auke Bay Lab.
OSTI ID:
426712
Report Number(s):
PB--96-194782/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English