Agricultural pesticide residues in oysters and water from two chesapeake bay tributaries

Abstract

Little is known of the impact of agricultural activity on oysters in Chesapeake Bay tributaries. As a preliminary assessment of pesticide residues in oyster tissues, this study monitored more than 60 pesticides in oysters and overlying water in two tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Paired water and oyster samples were collected throughout 1997 from the Patuxent and Choptank Rivers which discharge into opposite shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. In water, herbicides such as atrazine, simazine, cyanazine, and metolachlor were present throughout the year with individual water concentrations peaking as high as 430 ng/1 in the late spring and summer and subsiding in the fall. These herbicides were not detected in the oysters even when concentrations were highest in the water. Another herbicide, trifluralin, was detected throughout the year at concentrations of less than 0.6 ng/1 and 0.4 ng/g (wet weight) in water and oyster samples, respectively. Several insecticides, such as endosulfans I and II, endosulfan sulfate, chlorpyrifos, α- and γ-HCH, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDT, trans-nonachlor, and trans-chlordane were also measured in both oysters and water at low concentrations.