The oyster population is in peril in Maryland with only 0.3% of
its 19th century population remaining. 1 This is due to a
variety of factors including water pollution from numerous
sources. The desire to save this species is so great that the
State of Maryland is encouraging private dock owners to assist
in the re-population of oysters by attaching juvenile to their
docks to increase survival. The researchers focused on the
pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAH's. PAH's are
the potent problem chemical family in coal tar sealants which
have been banned in numerous locations around the US. This
particular study looked at roadways, not parking lots. Roadways
rarely are treated with coal tar, but it is very frequent on
parking lots. It would have been an interesting line of research
if they had looked at specific parking lot runoff, but perhaps
that could be for a future study. It also would be good to know
just how much of that PAH was transported there from coal tar
sealed parking lots. The USGS ha