MI/EGLE/WRD-20/002 Assessment of the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems Beneficial Use Impairment in Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern 2020 Prepared by: Dennis Bush, Toxicologist Brandon Armstrong, Toxicologist Sarah Bowman, Toxicologist Joseph Bohr, Aquatic Biologist Surface Water Assessment Section Water Resources Division January 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Dr. Lisa Williams and Mandy Annis of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for providing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds for this project. Additional funding was also provided by the Clean Michigan Initiative. We would also like to thank University of Maryland staff (Dr. William Bowerman, Dr. Meredith Bohannon, and Hannah Evans) for providing the bald eagle and herring gull data and David Best for providing information regarding specific eagle territories. We would also like to thank Dr. Steven Bursian for facilitating the analysis of the mink jaws. We would like to thank Dr. Keith Grasman for providing information and data on herring gulls, Caspian terns, and black-crowned night herons. Lastly, we would like to thank Mr. Joe Medema for providing the mink and muskrats from the Kalamazoo River. Cover photos: Common tern - Katherine Whittemore, United States Fish and Wildlife Service; Bald eagle - Dr. William Bowerman, University of Maryland; and Mink - Don Breneman, Great Lakes National Program Office. Table of Contents_Toc26367018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 1 REPORT CONTEXT .................................................................................................................. 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 3 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 4 TOXICITY REFERENCE VALUES (TRV) .................................................................................. 5 Bald Eagles: ........................................................................................................................... 6 Productivity- ........................................................................................................................ 6 Blood Concentration- .......................................................................................................... 6 Egg Concentration- ............................................................................................................. 7 Fish Tissue Concentration- ................................................................................................. 8 BMF Approach- ................................................................................................................... 8 Surrogate Species Approach- ............................................................................................. 9 Colonial Nesting Birds: ..........................................................................................................10 Productivity- .......................................................................................................................10 Egg Concentration- ............................................................................................................10 Fish Tissue Concentration- ................................................................................................12 BMF Approach- ..................................................................................................................12 Surrogate Species Approach- ............................................................................................13 Field Data Approach- .........................................................................................................14 Mink: .....................................................................................................................................17 Liver Concentration- ...........................................................................................................17 Fish Tissue Concentration- ................................................................................................18 APPLICATION OF FISH TRVs .................................................................................................19 Fish TRV Summaries: ...........................................................................................................19 PCBs- ................................................................................................................................20 TEQs- ................................................................................................................................21 p,p’-DDE- ...........................................................................................................................21 Mercury- ............................................................................................................................21 Fish Consumed by Wildlife: ...................................................................................................21 Bald Eagles- ......................................................................................................................22 Herring Gulls- .....................................................................................................................22 Common Terns- .................................................................................................................22 Caspian Terns- ..................................................................................................................23 Mink- ..................................................................................................................................23 Otter- .................................................................................................................................23 Fish Collected Versus Fish Consumed: .................................................................................24 WILDLIFE CONTAMINANT MONITORING DATA SUMMARY .................................................25 Bald eagles: ..........................................................................................................................25 Herring gulls: .........................................................................................................................27 PCBs- ................................................................................................................................27 p,p’-DDE- ...........................................................................................................................27 FISH CONTAMINANT MONITORING DATA SUMMARY .........................................................30 Carp: .....................................................................................................................................30 Forage Fish: ..........................................................................................................................31 WILDLIFE BUI ASSESSMENTS ...............................................................................................34 Kalamazoo River AOC: .........................................................................................................34 Wildlife studies- ..................................................................................................................34 Bald eagles ....................................................................................................................34 Herring gulls ...................................................................................................................39 Mink ...............................................................................................................................39 Muskrats .........................................................................................................................41 Tree swallows.................................................................................................................42 Fish data- ...........................................................................................................................42 Spatial comparison .........................................................................................................42 Comparison to wildlife benchmark values .......................................................................42 Food Web Analysis- ...........................................................................................................43 Conclusions- ......................................................................................................................44 Recommendation- ..............................................................................................................45 Saginaw River/Bay AOC:.......................................................................................................45 Wildlife studies- ..................................................................................................................45 Bald eagles ....................................................................................................................45 Colonial nesting birds .....................................................................................................48 Tree swallows.................................................................................................................50