Chemicals of emerging and legacy concern in tissues of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Columbia River near Hanford, WA (2009)

This dataset contains concentrations of 25 organochlorine pesticides, 6 industrial or personal care products, 6 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardant congeners, and 15 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in brain, muscle, gonad, and liver tissues of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus). All concentrations are reported on a wet-weight basis. Fish samples were collected from the Columbia River directly adjacent to and immediately downstream from the Hanford Site in Washington State. The site was used as a weapons-grade plutonium plant from 1944 to 1987, at which time liquid effluents were discharged directly into the Columbia River. Contaminants from past and present waste leaks from the Hanford Site can accumulate in fish residing in the Columbia River. However, contaminants from additional sources (mining, smelting, pulp and paper production, agricultural runoff, atmospheric deposition, and permitted municipal and urban discharges) can also accumulate in fish residing in the river. The sturgeon individuals sampled for this dataset were used to assess the nature and extent of non-radionuclide chemical contamination in fish in the Columbia River at the Hanford Site. Tissues from 16 individual fish were composited into 5 samples to meet the mass requirements for the chemical analyses.