San Diego Bay bioaccumulation study nearing completion

A three-year study that quantifies how sediment contamination in San Diego Bay is transferred through various levels of the marine food web has completed its first phase of data analysis and reporting.

The study is the most comprehensive Southern California investigation ever conducted into how contamination from sediment and other sources bioaccumulates in marine life and threatens the health of seabirds and humans at the top of the food web. The final study report is scheduled to be published this summer.

SCCWRP and its partners documented DDTs, PCBs, mercury and other chemical contaminants at elevated levels in sport fish consumed by humans and in the eggs of seabirds such as the California least tern.

The study’s preliminary findings were submitted in March to the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, which commissioned the study.

Study data will be used to refine an assessment framework under development that explains how to interpret California’s sediment quality objective to protect human health.