Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
table 10.4
(continued)
Mean annual
catch,
2001-2006
(millions
of tons)
a
% of
global
marine
catch
Total Hg
range
Species
g g
1
wet
weight)
Mean total Hg
(
g g
1
wet weight)
Common name
Scientifi c name
(
Northern prawn
Pandalus borealis
0.40
0.43
0.30
B,C
0.10-0.55
Gazami crab
Portunus
trituberculatus
0.37
0.39
NA (0.05-0.40)
b,c,j,v,E
NA
Southern rough
shrimp
Trachypenaeus
curvirostris
0.36
0.38
NA (~0.02)
b.c,v,E,F
NA
Araucanian herring
Strangomera
bentincki
0.35
0.37
NA (~0.04)
b.c
NA
Chum salmon
Oncorhynchus keta
0.34
0.37
0.05
Q,R,S,T
0.01-0.13
Daggertooth pike
conger
Muraenesox
cinereus
0.33
0.35
0.31
U
0.14-0.46
NA
data not available; nd
below detection limit
a. UN FAO (2007)
b. Expected Hg concentration based on related species with similar feeding habits and trophic level
Hg concentration data references:
c. US FDA (2006)
d. Burger et al. (2007)
e. Knowles et al. (2003)
f. Legrand et al. (2005)
g. Plessi et al. (2001)
h. Kaneko and Ralston (2007)
i. Kojadinovic et al. (2006)
j. Andersen and Depledge (1997)
k. Perugini et al. (2009)
l. Storelli et al. (2003b)
m. Arcos et al. (2002)
n. Braune et al. (1987)
o. Dixon and Jones (1994)
p. Keskin et al. (2007)
q. Yamashita et al. (2005)
r. Cortes and Fortt (2007)
s. Costa et al. (2009)
t. Kehrig et al. (2004)
u. Mol et al. (2000)
v. Chen and Chen (2006)
w. Adams (2004)
x. Kraepiel et al. (2003)
y. Joiris et al. (1999)
z. Storelli et al. (2003a)
A. Green and Knutzen (2003)
B. Jardine et al. (2009)
C. Joiris et al. (1997a)
D. Cossa and Gobeil (2000)
E. Bloom (1992)
F. Burger et al. (2005)
G. Falcó et al. (2006)
H. Senn et al. (personal communication)
I. Ichihashi et al. (2001)
J. Haines and Bauer (2001)
K. Zauke et al. (1999)
L. Boush and Thieleke (1983)
M. Brooks (2004)
N. Jókai et al. (2005)
O. Kütter et al. (2008)
P. Nakagawa et al. (1997)
Q. Foran et al. (2005)
R. Jewett and Duffy (2007)
S. Kelly et al. (2008)
T. Zhang et al. (2001)
U. Cheng et al. (2009)
of demethylation by phytoplankton, invertebrates, or lower-
trophic-level fi sh (Eagles-Smith et al., 2009b; Palmisano et al.,
1995; Scheuhammer et al., 2007; Wagemann et al., 1998).
Consequently, a substantial portion of the MMHg taken up
at the base of the food chain may eventually be released back
into the marine environment. This internal cycling is in con-
trast to MMHg removed by the harvesting of marine prod-
ucts, which would represent a true sink for oceanic MMHg.
Mass balances of mercury in the Mediterranean Sea
(Rajar et al., 2007) and Arctic Ocean (Outridge et al., 2008)
have shown that the amount of mercury in fi sh and the
amount of mercury removed by fi shing are very small
relative to the total reservoir of mercury in these marine
environments. Because MMHg constitutes only a small
percentage of the total mercury pool in oceanic waters but
represents most of the mercury in fi sh, fi shing may be more
important in the biogeochemical cycling of MMHg in the
marine environment than for total mercury.
That importance is indicated by our estimate that fi sh-
ing removes approximately 0.04 Mmol of MMHg from the
ocean each year. This estimate is based on: (1) 93 million
metric tons of marine fi sh being harvested each year since
2000 (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization
[UN FAO], 2007), (2) a weighted average mercury concen-
tration in muscle tissue of commercially caught marine
fi sh of 120 ng g
1
wet weight (Table 10.4, and references
therein), (3) whole-fi sh mercury concentrations being 25%
lower than those in muscle tissue (Goldstein et al., 1996;
Peterson et al., 2005), and (4) MMHg comprising 90% of the
mercury in fi sh (Andersen and Depledge, 1997; Baeyens et
al., 2003; Bank et al., 2007; Bloom, 1992; Hammerschmidt
and Fitzgerald, 2006a; Storelli et al., 2003a). This estimate
of MMHg removed by fi shing is similar to the estimated
annual fl ux of MMHg to the open ocean via rivers presented
above, but less than the overall riverine input of MMHg to
coastal waters and sediment.
