Author McGoldrick, Daryl, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada(P) |
|
Co-author(s)
Clark, Mandi, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Keir, Michael, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Backus, Sean, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Malecki, Mary, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
|
| Long-term systematic storage of environmental specimens has become an important component of formal environmental monitoring programs in many countries. In 1976, the Contaminants Surveillance Program (CSP) began in the Great Lakes Basin. In support of the CSP, Fisheries and Oceans Canada began archiving fish tissue samples in 1977 and created the Great Lakes Fisheries Specimen Bank (GLFSB). In 2006, responsibility for the GLFSB was transferred to Environment Canada and it was renamed the National Aquatic Biological Specimen Bank (NABSB). The new name better reflects the current contents and purpose of the specimen bank which now supports Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan (CMP). The NABSB employs standardized banking protocols, computerized sample tracking, maintenance of all data and metadata associated with each specimen, and modern storage equipment situated in a dedicated facility at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, Ontario. Fish collected in routine sampling are aged and their tissues analyzed for metals and a suite of pesticides. Specimens from the NABSB are also available for collaborative research projects which have investigated the status, trends, and bioaccumulation of several other organic contaminants (PCBs, dioxins, furans, aromatic hydrocarbons, etc…) in aquatic ecosystems. Since 1977, specimens from the NABSB have contributed to more than 60 scientific publications, reports, and/or book chapters. Collection and archiving of specimens in the NABSB continues such that the specimen bank currently holds more than 24,000 specimens of top predator fish, forage fish, and plankton collected over 32 years of environmental monitoring in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes and beyond. |
