Summary

Description

St. Lazaria Island, part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, has over 540,000 burrow nesting Leachs and forktailed stormpetrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa and O. furcata, respectively, and over 20,000 other seabirds including murres Uria, puffins Fratercula, and other alcids. This island, located approximately fifteen miles west of Sitka, Alaska, was used by the military during WW II as a radar communications station. It is a popular destination for tour boats and fishing vessels, and is susceptible to oil spills from small boat traffic. This combination prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to measure metal, organochlorine, and petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations, including aliphatics and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in soils and biota. Soil samples, an addled stormpetrel egg species unknown, and blue mussels Mytilus trossulus, were collected 2526 July 1992 on St. Lazaria Island, Alaska. Metal concentrations in soil and mussel samples were low. Hydrocarbon residues in soil and mussel samples were indicative of both biogenic and petrogenic sources and were primarily weathered oil complexes. Organochlorines were not detected in soils or mussels and were found at trace concentrations in the petrel egg. PCBs were present only in the petrel egg.