Grayce P. Storey
Long Island Sound has had problems with contamination of water fish and sediments. The chemicals responsible for the contamination comes from metal, pesticides, products used in various industries and compounds derived from petroleum or from processes such as burning. There is a big concern about the sufficiently high concentrations of toxins in the Sound because they can be harmful to marine animals and humans who eat seafood from the Sound.
In 1986 the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in their monitoring of certain fish and shell fish in the Sound found that some levels of contamination were higher than expected. Concentration of cadmium and PCB’s were particularly high in lobsters and hepatpancreus. During the winter of 1987 metals were very low in the edible portion of the fish also the lobster tail and claw meat.
The atmosphere deposited large amounts of copper and lead to the sediments in Central Long Island Sound.
The NS and T Program showed four elements and four classes of organic compounds having average concentration over three years. These concentrations differed among the nine Long Island Sound sites. The elements are silver (Ag), chromin (Cr), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb). The organic classes are polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB’s), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s), and pesticides (DDT) and chlordane. Mussels and sediments in the Throgs Neck area show a general wester enhancement of contamination.
Contamination in Long Island Sound changes overtime. This change is brought about due to the condition in surrounding water. It is believed that mussel analysis is the best source to determine contamination trends over time.
Damage to DNA, the basic genetic material of an organism, may not affect the health of an animal but it is considered a necessary preclude of the kind of abnormal cell growth that cause tumors. Only one fish in the Sound was found to have liver tumors which was believed to have been contributed to contamination.