Coastal Storms, Toxic Runoff, and the Sustainable Conservation of Fish and Fisheries

—Nonpoint source pollution in the form of stormwater runoff is one of the most important emerging threats to ecosystems along the coastal margins of the United States. A wide diversity of potentially toxic chemicals is commonly found in stormwater. These include the various pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other common contaminants that originate from commercial, industrial, residential, and agricultural land-use activities. These chemicals are mobilized from roads, lawns, crops, and other surfaces by rainfall and then transported to aquatic habitats via terrestrial runoff. The ongoing development of coastal watersheds nationwide is increasing the loading of nonpoint source pollutants to rivers, estuaries, and the nearshore marine environment. A central aim of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s national Coastal Storms Program (CSP) is to enhance the resiliency of coastal ecosystems by improving the ability of coastal communities to anticipate and reduce the impacts of contaminated terrestrial runoff. Toxic chemicals in stormwater can adversely impact the health of fish, including threatened and endangered species. Nonpoint source pollution can also degrade the biological integrity of aquatic communities that support productive fish populations. This article examines the effects of stormwater runoff on fish and fisheries. Using case studies drawn from CSP project work in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California pilot regions, we show how degraded water quality can impact the health of fish during critical life history stages (i.e., spawning and rearing) as well as limit the overall effectiveness of fish habitat restoration. We also discuss some of the resources currently available to local communities to reduce the loading of toxics in stormwater, thereby increasing the resilience of aquatic communities. Finally, we identify priority areas for new research to help guide the future conservation and recovery of at-risk fish populations. Coastal waters are one of the nation’s greatest assets, yet they are being bombarded with pollutants from a variety of sources. While progress has been made in reducing point sources of pollution, nonpoint source pollution has increased and is the primary cause of nutrient enrichment, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, toxic contaminants, and other problems that plague coastal waters. Nonpoint source pollution occurs when rainfall and snowmelt wash pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria, viruses, pet waste, sediments, oil, chemicals, and litter into our rivers and coastal waters... Our failure to manage the human activities that affect the nation’s oceans is compromising their ecological integrity, diminishing our ability to fully realize their potential, costing us jobs and revenue, threatening human health, and putting our future at risk (U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 2004). Today, nonpoint sources represent the greatest pollution threat to our oceans and coasts. Every acre of farmland and stretch of road in a watershed is a non* Corresponding author: [email protected]