Order from Chaos? History of Chlorinated Pesticide Contamination of the U.S. Coastal Fauna

Since 1965 nearly one quarter of the U.S. marine fish fauna and over 100 species of mollusks and crustaceans have been surveyed for chlorinated pesticide and PCB contamination. These data are now centralized. A detailed review of over 25,000 records from 150 separate surveys confirm that DDT contamination has declined dramatically, but was once widespread in estuarine and coastal fish and shellfish of the northeast coast, in specific estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico coast and Caribbean Islands, and in the pelagic food webs of the entire Pacific shelf. Severe PCB contamination was, and continues to be restricted to large fauna of urban and industrial estuaries, but also occurs in low concentrations everywhere. Contamination of fish by chlordane, nonachlor and dieldrin continues. Renewed national surveillance is needed to determine whether toxaphene, endosulfan (Thiodan) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) are still present in past "hot spots. Some order is indeed coming from the monitoring chaos.