Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program in the Aleutian Islands
Research project description: A collaborative effort by Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency and University of Alaska Fairbanks designed to monitor or test water to show the current status trends or changes in our freshwater or coastal marine waters. EMAP protocols are designed to provide general conclusions about the biotic and abiotic conditions within a study area, which can then be used for comparison with other regions of Alaska and the United States. As the data is collected, compiled, and evaluated, ADEC will be able to describe Alaska’s coastal and freshwater benchmark conditions for water chemistry, for toxic compounds in sediment and fish tissue, and for benthic infauna and demersal fish distribution and abundance. These data may be used in future focused studies targeting specific locations that exhibit elevated levels of toxic compounds in sediment of fish tissue, show anomalies in benthic infauna or show anomalies in fish pathology, distribution or abundance.
