Wade, T.L.Sericano, J.L.Garcia-Romero, B.Brooks, J.M.Presley, B.J.Proceedings of the Marine Technology Society 1990: Science and Technology for a New Oceans Decade Conference. September 26-28, 1990. Washington, D.C.2010-02-152010-02-151990http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/24213p. 274-280Oysters have been employed as bioindicator organisms to characterize the current status and long-term trends for trace elements and organic contaminants. Sampling sites (50-69), distributed throughout the Gulf of Mexico and away from known point sources of input, are sampled yearly to provide a geographical description of the chronic contaminant loading of the entire Gulf on a regional basis. The general trend is contaminant concentrations that show no significant changes during the four-year sampling period. However, certain sites have experienced significant changes in contaminant concentration.indicator speciesoystersorganic compoundstrace elementschemical compoundspolynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)Chapter