As part of the Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) and the USGS’s long-term Wildlife Contaminants Program, the USGS samples double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) and Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) eggs throughout the San Francisco Bay Estuary approximately every three years to assess temporal trends in contaminant concentrations. This sampling has been carried out in 2006, 2009, and 2012. Although RMP sampling was scheduled to take place in 2015, it was delayed until 2016. This document summarizes egg collections for 2016, as well as mercury concentrations in Forster’s tern eggs on an individual egg basis.
A report from ABC7's Dan Ashley on May 17, 2017 highlighted key findings from a recent RMP study on the pesticide fipronil. The study identified spot-on flea control products as likely to be an important source of this contaminant to the Bay.
Many news outlets are reporting on a spike in leopard shark deaths and bat rays in S.F. Bay. Several theories related to pollution have been offered, but we want to offer an additional factor that is missing from the discussion...
