Concentrations and spatial variations of cyclodienes and other organochlorines in herring and perch from the Baltic Sea

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 215; no. 1; pp. 69 - 83
• Main Authors: Strandberg, B., Strandberg, L., van Bavel, B., Bergqvist, P.-A., Broman, D., Falandysz, J., Näf, C., Papakosta, O., Rolff, C., Rappe, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 23-04-1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: ALDRIN; ALDRINE; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; BALTIC SEA; Baltic States; Biological and medical sciences; Body Burden; Chlordan - analysis; CHLORDANE; CLORDANO; CLUPEA HARENGUS; CONTAMINACION; CONTAMINATION; Cyclodienes; DDT; DIELDRIN; DIELDRINE; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; ENDOSULFAN; ENDRIN; ENDRINE; Environmental Monitoring; Fish; Fishes - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HCH; HEPTACHLOR; HEPTACHLORE; HEPTACLORO; Insecticides - analysis; MAR BALTICO; Marine and brackish environment; MER BALTIQUE; Organochlorines; PERCA FLUVIATILIS; Perches - metabolism; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Seawater; Species Specificity; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Baltic Sea; Baltic States; Fish; Cyclodienes; Organochlorines; Baltic Sea; Contamination; Clupeidae; Insecticide; Interspecific comparison; Dieldrin; Mirex; Cyclodiene derivatives; Spatial variation; Marine environment; Vertebrata; Clupea harengus; Organochlorine compounds; Pisces; Perca fluviatilis; Water pollution; Biological accumulation; Chlordane; Geographical variation; Concentration distribution
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/S0048-9697(98)00114-4

Herring (
Clupea harengus) and perch (
Perca fluviatilis) were collected in the northern and southern Baltic Sea and analyzed for the presence of the cyclodiene pesticides chlordane (CHL), heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, isodrin, endosulfan and mirex, as well as other organochlorine contaminants, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), DDTs, hexachlorobenzene (HCBz) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in order to investigate concentrations, accumulation and differences in geographical distribution. In the northern part of the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, herring were collected at two pelagic stations, one in the Bothnian Bay (BB) and the other in the Bothnian Sea (BS), respectively; perch were collected at four coastal locations along the Swedish coast. All these locations were selected to represent background areas except one in the vicinity of an industrialised and contaminated area. Both specimens were also caught in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, in the Gulf of Gdansk (GG), Poland, a potentially highly polluted area. From the eight cyclodiene pesticides analyzed, three were detected in herring and perch samples, including 12 different CHL-related compounds, dieldrin and mirex. To our knowledge, it is the first time that mirex has been detected in samples from the Baltic Sea. Neither heptachlor, aldrin, endrin, isodrin nor endosulfan were found. However, HCHs, DDTs, HCBz and PCBs were found in every sample investigated, and the concentrations ranged e.g. for the cyclodiene chemicals dieldrin and CHL-related compounds from 30 to 170 ng/g lipid and for PCBs from 360 to 5400 ng/g lipid, both fish species included. Differences in contamination burden between the sites can be seen, e.g. for herring the BB and GG locals were similar, and generally lower than BS for all chemicals except that of DDT where GG was the highest. For the perch samples the industrialised location had markedly higher concentrations of HCBz and PCBs than the other locations. This species also identifies GG as the most DDT contaminated site among the three studied areas.