Monitoring Recommendations

• Clarify and refine key regulatory and management monitoring objectives

• Design a multi-year monitoring plan to meet objectives

• Not necessarily more expensive• More value per dollar

Likely Management Questions

• Q1: Does the project negatively impact existing aquatic and wetland habitats? Monitoring: Pre- and post-project

comparisons of existing conditions

Monitoring Recommendations

• Q2: Do the restored habitats increase the risk of Hg bioaccumulation? Monitoring: Compare habitat types

within breached areas to the ambient condition of same types of habitats within the North Bay.

Q1: Impact to Existing Habitats?

• Marsh restoration does not appear to affect risk in subtidal habitats adjacent to marsh (see right)

• Risk to adjacent marsh habitats is unknown

Q2: Do Restored Habitats increase Risk?

• Pond 2A restored in 1995

• MeHg in subtidal food web is typical of North Bay region

• MeHg in restored marsh food web is unknown

Use Biosentinels to Standardize

• These comparisons should be based on the same biosentinel species for each habitat type that is monitored shallow subtidal

intertidal aquatic

intertidal marsh

Silversides Excellent Subtidal Biosentinel

• Bay margin, large sloughs, and managed ponds

Add Marsh Biosentinels

• Silversides, and other transient fish, do not provide information about Hg risk in marsh

• Assess bioaccumulation in tidal marsh • Does not need to increase overall cost.

Prioritize based on management questions and what is already known.

Small fish indicate subtidal Other indicators for marsh risk

Small fish

Song sparrow

Is Winter Monitoring Necessary?

• How do we use results of winter fish Hg concentrations in management decisions?

• Lower risk to wildlife in winter, because birds are not breeding

• Lower biomass of small fish in winter, so less important in the food web

• Save costs by eliminating winter monitoring, in the absence of a specific management question?

For project report and data:http://www.sfei.org/projects/NBaySmallFishHg

Thank You

• Karen Taylor, CDFG• Tom Gandesbury and Betsy Wilson,

State Coastal Conservancy• Project collaborators – Darell

Slotton, Shaun Ayers, Letitia Grenier• John Ross, Cristina Grosso, Don Yee,

April Robinson, Josh Collins, SFEI• The California State Coastal

Conservancy and the San Francisco Foundation