Oregon Sea Grant

Pesticides are widely used to control undesirable pests and may be applied directly to water or lands directly adjacent to water. There can be unintended consequences, however, to native, threatened, and endangered species. There is little information on the impacts of aquatic pesticides and best management practices (BMPs) to NOAA Trust Species. The goal of this project is to provide a set of resources and examples of aquatic pesticide toxicity to NOAA Trust Species and BMPs to NOAA Fisheries Service agents and private and public resource managers. The products produced by this project are 1) an aquatic pesticide and NOAA Trust Species database, 2) a technical report synthesizing case studies and an aquatic pesticide BMP framework for aquatic pest control, and 3) an aquatic pesticide BMP framework applied to salmon habitat restoration programs for peer reviewed publication. The products produced by this project are to assist NOAA Fisheries agents in consulting on the issuance of the EPA’s 2011 National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) Pesticide General Permit and to continue to provide assistance to NOAA Fisheries in determining entity eligibility and helping managers apply for inclusion under the 2011 NPDES Pesticide General Permit. The project products can also be used by private and public resource managers when developing and implementing aquatic pest control action plans with regards to the use of aquatic pesticides. The database highlights substantial gaps in ecotoxicity data of aquatic pesticides impacts to NOAA Trust Species. Taking a BMP approach to pesticide uses can help compensate for these gaps. Pest control managers, habitat restoration managers, and NOAA Fisheries Service agents will benefit from easily accessible, synthesized information on aquatic pesticides, their potential toxicity to NOAA Trust Species, and pesticide BMPs specific to aquatic pest control. Tools that could be utilized by all of these stakeholders could increase communication between these parties. This may lead to increased discussion and evaluation of the current knowledge of pesticide impacts and aquatic pesticide BMPs.