Marine Environmental Quality: NOAA´s National Status and Trends Program

This nation-wide monitoring and assessment program utilizes a uniform strategy to obtain sediment, bivalve mollusc, and benthic fish samples from up to 150 sites around the U.S. coastline. Uniform analytical methodology is employed to detect and quantify a set of toxic chemicals in these samples. Also, visible and histological evidence of fish disease are determined. All data are stored in a central computerized data base so that rapid evaluation and dissemination of the data are possible. Selected data generated in the past by other agencies are being collected and organized in the data base. Summaries of both the new and the old data sets are being prepared now and can be made available to others.