EMW Initial Phase Report 



contamination. In the United States, the "Mussel Watch" program was begun by the U.S. EPA in 

 the mid-1970's and involved academic scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Moss 

 Landing Marine Laboratory, University of California Bodega Bay Laboratory, University of 

 Texas Marine Sciences Institute and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This program used 

 mussels and oysters as indicators of the concentrations of several classes of pollutants, principally 

 synthetic organics, fossil fuel compounds and their derivatives, several trace elements, and the 

 transuranic radioactive elements produced in the nuclear fuel cycle and by fallout from nuclear 

 weapons tests (Farrington et al, 1983). Mussel Watch became an operational contaminant 

 monitoring program in the United States in 1986 and is directed by NOAA as a part of the Status 

 and Trends Program (NOAA, 1987, 1989, O'Connor, 1991). 



In December, 1978, the members of the U.S. Mussel Watch Program joined with scientists 

 of other countries to hold an international workshop in Barcelona, Spain. This workshop 

 assessed the methodologies employed for the detection and measurement of pollutants in coastal 

 zones through the use of indicator organisms (NRC, 1980). The participants at the Barcelona 

 workshop decided that continuing international collaboration and communication would be 

 worthwhile, and elected a committee charged with the task of planning for the initiation of a global 

 monitoring program. Communication at the international level was continued at a second meeting 

 held in Honolulu, Hawaii in November of 1983 under the chairmanship of Dr. Robert Risebrough, 

 Bodega Bay Institute. Participants at the Hawaii meeting examined the conceptual approaches used 

 by the Mussel Watch programs and assessed the potential for expansion of this approach to a 

 global scale (Peterson and Tripp, 1984; Sivalingam, 1984). The International Mussel Watch 

 Project had its genesis at the Hawaii meeting. Planning momentum was maintained by the 

 International Mussel Watch Committee under the leadership of Prof. Edward Goldberg who 

 received substantial support from a planning office based at the University of Maryland and 

 directed by Drs. Rodger Dawson and Eric Schneider. The Initial Phase of the Project has been 

 implemented in the Latin American region (Figure 1) and due to financial limitations, has focused 

 mainly on organochlorine contaminants. Financial support for the Project is coordinated by the 

 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and includes financial contributions from IOC- 

 UNESCO, UNEP, US-NOAA, with cost-sharing from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 and in-kind contributions from the University of Texas and host country institutions. 



A primary initial goal of the International Mussel Watch is to ascertain and to assess the 

 levels of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in bivalves collected 

 from coastal marine waters throughout the world, with emphasis on tropical and southern 

 hemispheric locations where the use of these biocides continues. Prior to the IMW sampling in 

 1991-2, there has been no systematic survey of organic contaminants in the tropical and 

 subtropical coastal regions of the southern Hemisphere. Increased use, or continued use at present 



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