Persistent Organochlorine Pollutants and Elements Determined in Tissues of Rough-Toothed Dolphins ('Steno bredadensis') Banked from a Mass Stranding Event

摘要

Through an agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Protected Resources, NIST provides a service to the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) by maintaining the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB) as part of the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB). NIST personnel also develop and test collection and banking protocols, and provide training to other individuals who collect specimens for the bank. One source of specimens for the NMMTB is the mass stranding of cetaceans. These events periodically occur along the coasts of the United States, particularly on the East Coast. Regional Stranding Networks consist of local and regional groups from federal, state, and local agencies; private organizations; and individuals, many of whom are volunteers. These people respond to mass strandings by providing aid to the live-stranded animals to recovery facilities. They also collect data and samples from animals that die to document the age/sex population structure, life history, health condition, and other information that might be useful for scientific purposes. The stranding network members, when trained appropriately, also collect specimens for contaminant analysis and for the NMMTB.