Dave Whitall

2018

There is currently minimal data describing the level of contamination in Fagatele Bay, a unit of the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. Resource managers have concerns about the potential inputs of contaminants from a landfill upslope from the Bay. Leachate from the landfill may include both organic (e.g. PCBs) and inorganic (e.g. heavy metals) pollutants, and could reach the Bay through groundwater or surface runoff. The proposed project will result in a baseline chemical characterization, of Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary (FBNMS) for over 100 contaminants in the water, as well as assessing sediment porewater toxicity, and using foraminifera assemblages as indicators of water quality.The treatment of solid waste is a serious problem on most islands because leakage of toxic substances due to inappropriate waste disposal can negatively impact the environment. It is currently unknown if the landfill above Fagatele Bay reduces the water quality in the bay through leakage of pollutants. This project will provide a baseline contaminant assessment of Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This assessment is important for two reasons: 1) to assess the extent to which pollution in the Bay is a problem; and 2) to serve as baseline to evaluate the effectiveness of future watershed management activities which might be designed to improve coral reef ecosystem health by LBSP. Passive samplers are useful for sampling compounds which do not accumulate in sediments or tissues (e.g. many current use pesticides, pharmaceuticals). Continuous Low-level Aquatic Monitoring (CLAM) devices use a small pump with a known flow rate to pass site water across a pre-prepared disc which adsorbs contaminants for subsequent analysis in the laboratory. An array of these sampling devices will be deployed to survey the presence and magnitude of contaminants in the Sanctuary. Additionally, sediment porewater will be collected for use in sea urchin toxicity assays which will provide a more holistic assessment (e.g. is sediment porewater toxic to invertebrates?) of the ecological status of the Sanctuary as it relates to LBSP. The EPA sea urchin embryo development assay will be used to test the toxicity of sediment porewaters. In brief, porewater is measured for salinity, DO, and ammonia and adjusted to meet testing criteria. Fertilized embryos are placed (~200) into the test vials containing porewater (4 replicates/sample) and controls. The test is terminated after 48-56h with fixative. The percent of normally developed larvae to pluteus stage, arrested or abnormal development are determined microscopically. Porewater samples showing toxicity (statistically significant reduction in normal development compared to controls) will be subjected to toxicity reduction assays using solid phase extraction (SPE) columns to bind toxic components from the sample and the column eluent is analyzed using the sea urchin development bioassay. If toxicity is observed, the column retentate will be extracted for analytical chemistry to identify toxic constituents.Finally, sediment will be sampled for subsequent determination of the foraminiferal assemblage. The FORAM Index (FI) uses characteristics of various taxa to assess whether water quality in an area supports coral-reef development (or recovery). These assemblages follow pollution and/or stress gradients, which can help in identifying sources of pollution in lagoons, estuaries or coral reefs. For reef environments with extensive hardbottom that is described for Fagatele Bay, epiphytic taxa can be sampled from rubble or by scraping the surfaces. The FI focuses on organisms or shells that exceed 63um, which are collected from approximately 1 g of sediment or sufficient sediment to select 200 individuals to represent a total assemblage. The specimens are categorized into three functional groups (1) large, symbiont-bearing mixotrophs, (2) small, stress-tolerant heterotrophs and (3) other small heterotrophic taxa. Each of these taxa will dominate under different water-quality parameters. The proportion of each are used to define the environmental condition into bins: <2 unsuitable for reef growth, 2-4 marginal conditions, likely unsuitable for recovery, >4 conducive environment for reef growth and recovery.

This project will produce the following products:1) QA/QC'd contaminant data, toxicity data and data on foram diversity;2) Interpreted data products (such as technical memoranda and peer reviewed papers)3) Outreach to the Sanctuary and the territory to explain and disseminate the findings of this study.Furthermore, if elevated levels of toxicants are found within Fagatele Bay, we will work with FBNMS to help develop mitigation efforts to improve the health of the coral reef ecosystem. In addition, the development of sustainable solutions for waste management practices in American Samoa will be encouraged through outreach and education using the findings of this study. Furthermore, the contaminant data will be linked to existing biological data sets. These linkages between stressors and biological response are critical to understanding how well watershed management activities are working.

• American Samoa

Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP)

Closed

Funding Ended

https://www.coris.noaa.gov/search/rest/find/document?searchText=projectNumber%3A31193%20OR%20projectTitle%3A"Assessing%20Futiga%20Dump%20Site%20Impacts%20on%20Fagatele%20Bay%20%28National%20Marine%20Sanctuary%20of%20American%20Samoa%29"&start=1&max=10&f=searchPage