Investigation of organic chemicals potentially responsible for mortality and intersex in fish of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, Virginia, during Spring of 2007

Declining fish health, fish exhibiting external lesions, incidences of intersex, and death, have been observed recently within the Potomac River basin. The basin receives surface runoff and direct inputs from agricultural, industrial, and other human activities. Two locations on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River were selected for study in an attempt to identify chemicals that may have contributed to the declining fish health. Two passive sampling devices, semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) and polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS), were deployed during consecutive two-month periods during the spring and early summer of 2007 to measure select organic contaminants to which fish may have been exposed. This study determined that concentrations of persistent hydrophobic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (< picograms per liter), legacy pesticides (