NOAA’s Mussel Watch Program has been in operation since 1986, when it was designed to monitor the status and trends of a broad suite of chemical contaminants at sites that represented large coastal areas in order to construct a nationwide assessment. In 1992 the Great Lakes were added to this monitoring effort, and involvement with CSMI and funding under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) helped the program ramp up its efforts in 2010.

AUTHOR

Christina Dierkes, Ohio Sea Grant