Fish Monitoring Programs in Alabama
Mr. Fred Leslie
Alabama Department of Environmental Management

Regular monitoring of fish in Alabama for mercury contamination was initiated in 1970 by ADEM's predecessor, the Alabama Water Improvement Commission (AWIC). The monitoring was conducted in Cold Creek Swamp and adjacent Mobile River in response to concerns of mercury contamination from area industries. Monitoring of fish by the AWIC/ADEM continued in this area from 1970 to the present.

In 1991, the ADEM expanded its Fish Tissue Monitoring Program to provide statewide monitoring. The Program expansion was in response to concerns regarding mercury and other bioaccumulative contaminants in fish, and national emphasis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The expanded program exists as a cooperative arrangement between the ADEM, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). With increasing awareness during the 1990's of mercury contamination in fish, the ADEM also joined other states in this region as a member of the Southern States Mercury Task Force to share information and expertise in determining necessary action.

Through the Program, fish are collected from all major reservoirs and streams in Alabama over five (5) year periods in a basin rotation cycle. Each year, sites in waterbodies outside the scheduled basin are also included for monitoring as needed and as resources allow. Since 1991, 596 composite samples comprised of several thousand fish have been collected from over 230 sites and analyzed for mercury. In addition, individual analyses of many fish have also been conducted. All samples are analyzed by the ADEM Environmental Laboratory for mercury and other contaminants with the potential to bioaccumulate. Analytical data is provided to the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) for review, with the ADPH using FDA action levels of 1.0 parts per million (ppm) mercury in fish tissue for issuance of advisories.

Recently, analyses of mercury concentrations in fish samples from 30 Alabama coastal estuary sites was conducted by ADEM, USEPA, and ADCNR for the Coastal 2000 Program. No fish collected for this Program exceeded FDA levels for mercury. During 2001, fish tissue samples were collected by ADEM from 34 sites in the state and analyzed for mercury concentrations, with a total of 407 fish collected. Eighteen of these sites were in the Mobile Bay area, where the greatest number of ADPH consumption advisories in Alabama currently exist. Bass collected from the Escatawpa River and Styx River in 2001 exceeded FDA guideline levels, though bass collected from these locations in 1995 did not. As in previous years, bass collected during 2001 from Fowl River and Fish River exceeded FDA guidelines for mercury. In addition, two fish in a sample of six largemouth bass from Chickasaw Creek and one fish in a sample of six largemouth bass from the Tensaw River exceeded the guideline levels. Bass collected from Bay Minette Creek in 2001 did not exceed FDA levels, while those collected in 1997 and in 1998 did.

Future monitoring activities include sample collection in the Warrior and Cahaba River basins in 2002, resampling locations where fish exceeded FDA levels for the first time in 2001, resampling of south Alabama locations not sampled in several years, as well as targeting the remaining areas in south Alabama where fish have not been collected for the ADEM Program. Future sampling of marine and estuarine species depends in part on the outcome of ongoing negotiations at the state and federal level.

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