Puget Sound Voices: Don Malins interview

The audio files below are excerpts from a May 2013 interview with Donald Malins, former Director of the Environmental Conservation Division of NOAA Fisheries. Research by Malins and his colleagues in the 1970s and mid-1980s revealed high levels of industrial toxics in sediment-dwelling fish in Puget Sound, leading to the creation of Superfund sites in the Duwamish Estuary and Commencement Bay. Read a full profile of Donald Malins. The interview was conducted by Richard Strickland and Randy Shuman in cooperation with the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound as part of the Puget Sound Voices series. Additional assistance was provided by Jake Strickland. 

Audio interview in 13 parts

1. Early life

2. Descriptions of the Puget Sound region in 1947

3. Student years at the University of Washington

4. Early jobs, pursuit of Ph.D. and early work at NOAA

5. Discovery of tumors in fish

6. Public reaction

7. Concerns about fishing in the Duwamish

8. Descriptions of sediment contamination

9. Concerns about transmission of toxic materials up the food chain

10. Discussion of chemical compounds and bioassays

11. Barges dumping toxic materials into Elliot Bay

12. Directorship of Environmental Biochemistry Program at the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation

13. Retirement and consulting work related to the Exxon Valdez oil spill

 

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