Relationship Between Oil Exposure and Reproductive Parameters in Fish Collected Following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) in 1989, the effect of oil exposure on reproductive parameters was investigated in wild populations of female dolly varden, yellowfin sole, and pollock. Exposure to oil was the highest in the first year of sampling and decreased in the subsequent years of sampling. Both positive and negative correlations between reproductive parameters and indices of exposure were detected in varying degrees for all three species. Reproductive parameters were not measured in the first year of sampling. For those parameters found to be significantly correlated to oil exposure, an exponential regression function was used to project reproductive parameters of fish sampled in the first year of the spill. A higher proportion of dolly varden sampled in 1989 were projected to have depressed plasma estradiol-17β compared to the fish sampled in 1990.