Contaminants May Play Role in Apparent Decline of White Sturgeon in Columbia River

Contaminants May Play Role in Apparent Decline of White Sturgeon in Columbia River

Source: Underwatertimes

4/6/2006

Oregon -- White sturgeon populations in the Columbia River may be declining due to the presence of elevated amounts of foreign chemicals including DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls in their bodies, according to new studies by researchers at Oregon State University.

The research by Carl Schreck and Grant Feist, biologists in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences, has been published in the journals Environmental Health Perspectives and Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

Their research shows that white sturgeon living in the Columbia River in some areas above Bonneville Dam have high amounts of toxic contaminants in their livers, sex organs and muscle tissue.

"We don't know the exact source of contamination," Schreck said. "The fish move, the stuff they eat moves and the water and sediments bearing the contaminants moves. The Columbia receives input from numerous sources, so any population of fish at any one site can be exposed to a myriad of substances."