Status & Trends

This report contains information on the summer 2023 field sampling efforts conducted by the San Jose State University Research Foundation’s (SJSURF) Marine Pollution Studies Lab at Moss Landing Marine Labs (MPSL-MLML) in support of the Regional Monitoring Program’s (RMP) Central and South Bay Near-field and Margins chemical contaminant study. The work was contracted through the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) to SJSURF to collect sediment and prey fish tissue samples.
This report includes sample collections over a four week period (August 21st through September 14th) encompassing four trips. A total of 38 sediment and 12 prey fish sites were sampled, three of which included collecting duplicate sediment samples (Appendix A). Detailed sample counts and protocols can be found in the “2023 Bay Prey Fish and Near-field / Margins Sediment Sampling and Analysis Plan” prepared by SFEI.

This report details sampling and analysis plans associated with the pilot near-field water sampling for the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). The RMP added a pilot effort to the  Status & Trends (S&T) Program to quantify contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Bay water in areas near (“near-field” of) expected loading pathways during or shortly after storm events and during the dry season. For the first year of the pilot (Water Year 2022), the near-field design included three targeted, near-field stations and four ambient Bay stations. A fourth near-field station was added in subsequent years. Samples are collected at these stations during or shortly after two storm events, and once in the dry season. The analytes being measured include bisphenols, organophosphate esters (OPEs), PFAS-target, PFAS-TOP, and a suite of stormwater CECs.

This report details plans associated with the 2023 Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in the San Francisco Estuary (RMP) water cruise. The RMP water sampling program was redesigned in 2002 to adopt a randomized sampling design at thirty-one stations in place of the twenty-six base program stations sampled previously. In 2007, the number of stations was decreased to twenty-two stations, and it remains as such for 2023. The analytes for 2023 are based on the Status and Trends (S&T) Review process that started in 2020.

This report details plans associated with the pilot near-field water sampling for the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). The RMP recently reviewed the Status & Trends (S&T) Program and added a pilot effort to quantify contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Bay water in areas near (“near-field” of) expected loading pathways during or shortly after storm events and during the dry season. For the first year of the pilot (Water Year 2022), the near-field design included three targeted, near-field stations and four ambient Bay stations. Subsequent years added a fourth near-field station. Samples will be collected at these stations during or shortly after two storm events, and once in the dry season. The analytes that are being measured include bisphenols, organophosphate esters (OPEs), PFAS, and a suite of stormwater CECs.

This is a sampling and analysis plan for the Bay Status and Trends (S&T) Prey Fish and Near-field / Margins Sediment monitoring for the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). Bay margins are defined by the RMP as extending from Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) to 1 foot below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW). These mud flats and adjacent shallow areas of the Bay are productive and highly utilized by biota of interest (humans and wildlife). Near-field stations are located near watershed inputs in the Bay. Prey fish are a key matrix to monitoring the status and impacts of contaminants, especially near margin areas where they have shown strong contamination signals in previous RMP studies. This monitoring design provides a spatially-distributed characterization of contaminant concentrations in fish and sediment found within the margins of Central Bay, South Bay, and Lower South Bay. This study builds on previous S&T efforts to characterize surface sediment contamination across the Bay while piloting routine monitoring of prey fish. Additional samples outside of S&T will be collected for special studies. A subset of samples will be archived for potential future analysis of emerging contaminants or other analyte groups.

This report details plans associated with the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in the San Francisco Estuary (RMP) deep bay sediment cruise. The RMP, through the Status and Trends monitoring program, conducts routine monitoring of water, sediment and biological tissue. Deep bay stations (water depth lower than 1 foot below MLLW) have been sampled for the Status and Trends sediment program since its inception.  The current monitoring design (reflective of changes made to the Program through the Status and Trends Review process) calls for sampling frequency of deep bay sediment for CECs, PBDEs, and ancillary analytes every five years during the dry season. Every ten years, metals, PAHs, and PCBs will also be sampled. For 2023, sampling operations will entail dry season sample collection at 16 RMP sediment sampling stations for CECs, PBDEs, and ancillary analytes in Central Bay, South Bay, and Lower South Bay.