DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pc866t212
title: Emerging contaminants in juvenile Chinook salmon: Patterns of exposure and implications for conservation

description: Efforts to recover populations of threatened Chinook salmon in the Pacific
 Northwest may be hindered by exposure to contaminants in the juvenile life
 stage. Here we leverage a large dataset collected by the Washington
 Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Toxic Biological Observation System to
 test for accumulation of 219 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in
 juvenile Chinook salmon and identify chemicals that could be affecting
 salmon physiology, behavior, or fitness at current exposure
 concentrations. We also highlight results obtained from the region’s two
 most urbanized watersheds, the Green/Duwamish and Puyallup/White, to
 demonstrate how these data can inform decision making to protect juvenile
 salmonids. We found that juvenile Chinook salmon sampled in the
 Puyallup/White watersheds had the highest average concentrations of CECs,
 and that six chemicals appeared to be ubiquitous and were found in all
 five river systems spanning a gradient of urbanization. In the subsequent
 detailed studies in the Green/Duwamish and Puyallup/White River systems,
 we observed patterns in accumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl
 substances (PFAS) that revealed regions where certain analytes could be
 entering the rivers. In contrast, spatial patterns for pharmaceutical and
 personal care products (PPCPs) were less clear and indicated diffuse
 sources throughout the migration corridor, such as stormwater or
 wastewater. We recommend these results be used to target areas for source
 tracing studies for PFAS, and that future studies test for PPCP residues
 in commercial fish feed. Finally, the detection of multiple emerging
 contaminants in almost all composite fish samples, 11 of which exceeded
 available biological effects thresholds, reinforces the global call for
 green infrastructure projects that target source control and the removal
 or reduction of emerging contaminants from stormwater and wastewater.
description: All data compiled for this manuscript were collected by the
 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) between 2013 and 2023
 and include 141 composite samples comprising 772 individual subyearling
 Chinook salmon collected between April and June during the peak of their
 seaward migration. Fish were captured using beach seines, lampara seines,
 and an in-river screw trap, with additional collections made directly from
 hatchery ponds at the Soos Creek Hatchery in Auburn, WA. All collections
 were conducted under an ESA Section 4(d) permit obtained by WDFW for the
 collection of listed Chinook salmon. Hatchery-origin fish were identified
 using fin clips, otolith thermal marks, and coded wire tags; all others
 were presumed to be of natural origin and are hereafter referred to as
 wild fish. All chemical analyses were completed by the
 commercial laboratory SGS AXYS Analytical Laboratory (Sydney, B.C.).
 Multiple established extraction and analytical methods were used to test
 for a range of CECs including 141 PPCPs, four alkylphenols, 34 current-use
 pesticides, and 40 PFAS. These methods are referenced in the manuscript
 and Document S1 alongside further discussion of quality control screening
 criteria for % recovery, lab flags, chemicals observed in the method
 blanks, and reporting limits. Analytical methods documents are available
 from SGS AXYS upon request.
description: # Emerging contaminants in juvenile Chinook salmon: Patterns of exposure
 and implications for conservation Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.pc866t212](10.5061/dryad.pc866t212) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data compiled for this manuscript were collected
 by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) between 2013 and
 2023 and include 141 composite samples comprising 772 individual
 subyearling Chinook salmon collected between April and June during the
 peak of their seaward migration. ### Files and variables #### File 1:
 WDFW_JuvenileChinook_CEC_Data.xlsx **Description:** Chemistry and sample
 datafile associated with manuscript ENVPOL-D-25-03840: "Emerging
 contaminants in juvenile Chinook salmon: patterns of exposure and
 implications for conservation." Authors: Molly Shuman-Goodier, James
 Meador, Andrea Carey, Sandra O’Neill  #### File 2:
 Table_S2_-_Analytes_and_Metadata.xlsx **Description:** Table S2
 accompanying manuscript ENVPOL-D-25-03840. The table contains a summary of
 the analytes tested and associated metadata including the CAS Number, SGS
 AXYS methods number, contaminant of emerging concern (CEC) category,
 biological effects thresholds obtained from the literature, and the
 project collection year.  ##### Variables: Please view the Metadata tab in
 each file to review variable descriptions.