During the emergency phase of an oil or hazardous material spill, natural resource managers and trustees must quickly develop and implement study plans to collect ephemeral data on the extent and degree of contamination and the potential biological injury resulting from the spill. Various groups have developed comprehensive manuals and guidelines, yet these documents have proven to be too difficult to use during the chaotic, early days of a spill emergency. To provide better guidance, a series of brief (two-to-three pages) protocol summaries have been prepared for the types of sampling activities likely to be conducted during the emergency phase of spill, supporting both response and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) objectives. Previously protocols were prepared for collection of samples of the source oil(s), water samples, intertidal sediments, subtidal sediments, and shellfish tissues for chemical and histopathological analysis. New protocols have been prepared for: Biota/Tarball Stranding Documentation; Salt Marsh Reconnaissance; Intertidal Infauna Sampling; Stranded Oil Quantification on Beaches; Sunken Oil Pathways; and Bird Injury Quantification.

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