A risk assessment of the effects of mercury on Baltic Sea, Greater North Sea and North Atlantic wildlife, fish and bivalves

• Published in: Environment International
• Main Authors: Dietz, Rune, Fort, Jérôme, Sonne, Christian, Albert, Céline, Bustnes, Jan, Kjaer Christensen, Thomas, Tomasz, Maciej, Danielsen, Jóhannis, Dastnai, Sam, Eens, Marcel, Erikstad, Kjell, Galatius, Anders, Garbus, Svend-Erik, Gilg, Olivier, Hanssen, Sveinn, Helander, Björn, Helberg, Morten, Jaspers, Veerle, Munro Jenssen, Bjørn, Jónsson, Jón, Kauhala, Kaarina, Kolbeinsson, Yann, Kyhn, Line, Labansen, Aili, Larsen, Martin, Lindstøm, Ulf, Reiertsen, Tone, Rigét, Frank, Roos, Anna, Strand, Jakob, Strøm, Hallvard, Sveegaard, Signe, Søndergaard, Jens, Sun, Jiachen, Teilmann, Jonas, Therkildsen, Ole, Lindberg Thórarinsson, Thorkell, Tjørnløv, Rune, Wilson, Simon, Eulaers, Igor
• Other Authors: LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ANR-16-CE34-0005,ILETOP,Impact des polluants historiques et émergents sur les prédateurs supérieurs marins de l'Arctique(2016), ANR-16-TERC-0004,MAMBA,Contamination par le mercure des écosystèmes arctiques : sources, niveaux et impacts(2016)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03031071; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03031071/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03031071/file/Dietz%20et%20al.%202021%20Hg%20Risk%20assessment%20Baltic.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106178

International audience Juveniles from all species showed to be at no or low risk. In comparison to the same species in the adjacent waters, i.e. the Greater North Sea and the North Atlantic, the estimated risk for Baltic populations is not considerably higher. These findings suggest that over the past few decades the Baltic Sea has improved considerably with respect to presenting Hg exposure to its local species, while it does still carry a legacy of elevated Hg levels resulting from high neighbouring industrial and agricultural activity and slow water turnover regime.