Establishing an Appropriate and Relevant Measurement End Point

b. Economic importance. Flounder are important economically in this

portion of the bay. They constitute a commercial fishery year round and

an important recreational fishery during summer in nearshore waters.

c. Measurable. The health and maintenance of local fish populations are

measurable quantities.

d. Susceptible and sensitive to chemical induced stresses. There are

toxicological and field studies supporting the sensitivity of fish to

chemically induced stress.

e. Unambiguously defined. The health and maintenance of local fish

populations is clearly distinct from assessment of migrating fish or wide

ranging fish. The term "local" means populations whose feeding and

migrating range is generally on the same scale as the area of the

continental shelf proximate to the dredged material management site.

f. Logically and practically related to the management decision. Flounder

live and feed near or on the sediments and are continuously exposed to

surface water. Their protection as a local resource will be affected by

management decisions regarding dredged material disposal in this region

of the shelf.

Establishing an Appropriate and Relevant

Measurement End Point

For PCBs, body burdens in flounder are a reasonable measurement end point.

The flounder feed directly on benthic, sediment dwelling organisms that can

bioaccumulate PCBs. Note that for other COCs this may not be a good end

point. For example, the COCs, also include lead which does not biomagnify.

Appendix F Hypothetical Example