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The goal of the Bio-ICE Task Team, convened from July 2020 - January 2022, was to advance the integration of biological observations from local, regional, and federal sources using best practices to inform national needs and ultimately feed into GOOS data visualizations and reporting. Using the GOOS marine mammals and corals EOVs as examples, the Task Team sought to: 1. Reconcile U.S. federal collection of these variables with GOOS EOVs and the Group on Earth Observations’ EBVs, identifying synergies in spatial and temporal observing requirements and with existing observation infrastructure and delivery, including use of documented best practices and standards. 2. Identify and improve pathways for data flow for observations of these variables from the IOOS Regional Associations and federal sources into common data portals. This included a focus on identifying and implementing best practices for standardized data collection and delivery adhering to the FAIR and CARE data principles, as appropriate. The Task Team effort focused on corals and marine mammals to ensure the work of the task team was achievable within the time frame. These two EOVs were selected because of their importance to multiple stakeholders, as well as offering opportunities to tie-in to several critical U.S. priorities in ocean science. While the team chose this focus, it acknowledged that there are activities and communities working to advance the other biology and ecosystem essential variables in ways that might be similar to or synergistic with the task team, such as SCOR Working Group 158: Coordinated Global Research Assessment of Seagrass System (C-GRASS), global efforts to coordinate ocean sound monitoring and data, GOOS BioEco panel community workshops and ongoing panel activities, and other efforts worth tracking or considering for future engagement with IOOC.

Marine mammals are wide-ranging, relatively long-lived organisms that play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems. Often referred to as ecosystem engineers and sentinel species in marine ecosystems, these charismatic megafauna feed at a variety of trophic levels, affecting food web dynamics and cycling of chemicals and nutrients in the water column as well as in benthic habitats, both nearshore and in the deep ocean. An understanding of their abundance and distribution is an essential starting point for evaluating their role in ocean ecosystems. Accordingly, marine mammals have been included among key variables to monitor in ocean observing systems, from core variablesfor the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) to an Essential Ocean Variable (EOV)for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). They also contribute to several Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)for the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Further, evaluation of the health of marine mammal populations will help deliver societal benefits by contributing to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development; informing reporting activities such as the World Ocean Assessment; and supporting achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 14, the post-2020 framework for the Convention for Biological Diversity, and a new treaty for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. The goal of this Interagency Ocean Observation Committee task team was to advance the integration of existing biological observations from local, regional, and federal sources using best practices to inform national needs and ultimately feed seamlessly into the Global Ocean Observing System, as appropriate. To accomplish this goal the subgroup focused on marine mammals to: 1. Reconcile the IOOS core biological variables with GOOS EOVs and the GEO BON EBVs, identifying where there are clear synergies in terms of spatial and temporal observing requirements and existing observation infrastructure and delivery including best practices/standards. 2. Identify and improve pathways for data flow for observations of these variables from Federal sources, such as the stock assessments conducted by NMFS and FWS, into IOOS with a focus on identifying and implementing best practices surrounding standardized data collection and delivery adhering to the FAIR and CAREdata principles, as appropriate.

During December, 1985, Dover sole (Microstomus pacificus) were collected at water depths of 500 and 1000 m and sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) were collected at a water depth of 1000 m in the vicinity of former low-level radioactive and chemical munition disposal sites located near the Farallon Islands, California. Liver tissues were analysed for chlorinated hydrocarbons by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC/ECD). Chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDTs and PCBs) were detected in all fish. Concentrations of total DDTs and PCBs in livers of Dover sole and sablefish were as high as, or higher than, those recently reported for the same species collected in heavily contaminated coastal waters of Southern California. The presence of DDTs (up to 9 μg g−1, wet wt) and PCBs (up to 7 μg g−1, wet wt) in fish livers may indicate extensive contamination of the coastal waters or bottom sediments in the vicinity of the Farallon Islands. Even though the definitive sources of the chlorinated hydrocarbons detected in the Dover sole and sablefish are not known, the relative proximity of the former chemical munition disposal sites indicates that these areas may be a potential source of one or both of these contaminants.

In order to determine if blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) can bioaccumulate and retain complex mixtures of petroleum hydrocarbons, adult crabs were exposed for 14 days or 30–35 days in continuous flow-through seawater systems to three sublethal concentrations, nominally 0·00 (control), 0·01, or 1·0 ppm (mg/liter), of the water-accommodated fraction (WAF) of No. 2 fuel oil. Crabs exposed for 14 days were subsequently exposed to clean running seawater for 7 days whereas crabs exposed for 30–35 days, were placed into clean running seawater for a 30 day ‘depuration’ period. Gill, hepatopancreas, and muscle tissue samples were collected from control, WAF exposed, and ‘depurated’ crabs and analyzed by gas chromatography and/or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Number 2 fuel oil compounds were not detected in any of the tissues collected from control crabs. Trace amounts of fuel oil compounds were detected in gill and hepatopancreas tissues collected from crabs exposed to the 0·01 ppm WAF and no fuel oil compounds were detected in muscle tissues. All tissues of crabs exposed to the 1·0 ppm WAF accumulated No. 2 fuel oil compounds and considerable amounts remained in hepatopancreas and gill tissues following depuration for 30 days in clean seawater.