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In recent years, flame retardant chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), have generated international concern over their widespread distribution in the environment, their potential to bioaccumulate in humans and wildlife, and concern for suspected adverse human health effects. NOAA’s Mussel Watch Program monitors the status and trends of chemical contaminants of U.S. coastal waters, measured in filter-feeding bivalves (oysters or mussels). The Mussel Watch Program conducted a study of PBDEs in bivalve tissues and sediments and published the results in a national-scale assessment (Kimbrough et al. 2009). This study features nine sample sites in Alaska, two of which are in or near Kachemak Bay (sites CIHS Homer Spit and CINK Nanwalek) with mussel (Mytilis sp.) as the sampled species. Levels of PBDEs in mussel tissues at these sites are considered “medium” because they are above zero. Trends are not reported, since there was only one sample year (2005) for these sites. This summary report (Kimbrough et al. 2009) is available for download as a pdf at
ftp://ftp.library.noaa.gov/noaa_documents.lib/NOS/NCCOS/TM_NOS_NCCOS/nos_nccos_94.pdf |