SECTION 1 



A RESEARCH STRATEGY FOR ANTICIPATING CONTAMINANT THREATS 



TO AQUATIC RESOURCES 



Richard A. Schoettger and J. Larry Ludke^ 



The Environmental Contaminant Evaluation Program of the United States 

 Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is emphasizing a predictive approach to 

 identify potential contaminant problems and preventing or ameliorating ad- 

 verse effects of contaminants on ecological systems. The primary objective 

 is to protect fishery and wildlife resources from the impacts of contami- 

 nants before the effects become irreversible, or reversible only with great 

 difficulty and at high cost. Predictive research has long been a priority 

 objective of USFWS work with environmental contaminants. For example, DDE 

 was shown to cause reduction in avain populations; exposure to this chemical 

 resulted in thinned eggshells, which decreased the production of offspring. 

 Although these effects were repeatedly demonstrated in laboratory experi- 

 ments, regulatory action to remedy the problem was not taken for several 

 years. 



Contaminant problems of the 1970's, however, overwhelmed the research 

 capability to address them, and predictive research fell behind in the midst 

 of pressures to solve current problems. A new thrust was initiated in 1977 

 to increase USFWS capability to anticipate contaminant threats to the 

 nation's fishery and wildlife resources. The intent of this renewed empha- 

 sis is to increase the base of knowledge and thus assist natural resource 

 managers in anticipating and addressing future or suspected contaminant 

 problems before they reach catastrophic proportions. 



Because manpower and scientific resources are limited, we in the envi- 

 ronmental research community must emphasize the necessity of placing priori- 

 ties on our fishery and wildlife resources. We must judge on the relative 

 importance of different species and habitats on the basis of uniform and 

 meaningful guidelines, and focus our efforts on protecting the most impor- 

 tant ones first. Such an effort necessarily involves a multidisciplined 

 approach with a goal of anticipating contaminant threats of the future. 



The Columbia National Fisheries Research Laboratory (CNFRL) has em- 

 ployed a strategy that accentuates the anticipation of new or previously un- 



^Columbia National Fisheries Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of the 

 Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Route #1, Columbia, Missouri 65201, 



