APPLICATION OF ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES TO NATURAL RESOURCES DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

摘要

Ecological risk assessment principles are basic to the assessment of environmental injury during the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) process;however,what is sought is quantified injury,rather than quantified risk,to valued ecosystem components.These principles were used to develop an NRDA program for studies of injury to herring and pink salmon populations in Prince William Sound (PWS),Alaska,following the Exxon Valdez oil spill.Overall,exposures and subsequent effects of the spill on herring and salmon were minimal and post-spill harvests of the year's classes that were at greatest risk of spill injury were at or near record levels.