Toxic chemicals and their impacts in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord,Quebec, Canada: from a chemical to an ecosystem-based risk manage ...

• Main Authors: Couillard, C. M., Lebeuf, M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2007 - Theme session I 2024
• Subjects: Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Pressures, impacts, conservation, and management; Beluga; Beluga*; Delphinapterus leucas
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25257937.v2; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/A_comprehensive_methodology_for_the_assessment_of_the_health_status_of_estuarine_ecosystems/25257937/2

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.The St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) and Saguenay Fjord (SF), Quebec, Canada, have received world-wide attention in the early 1980s when high concentrations of contaminants and high prevalence of lesions including neoplasia, hermaphrodism and infection by opportunistic agents were reported in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). Both persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs mainly originating from the upstream industrialized sectors of the Great Lakes and the upper St. Lawrence River, and local contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mercury have been incriminated. The release of these chemicals has been successfully reduced through environmental regulations and restoration of contaminated areas. Since 1970s, declines in mercury, PAHs and PCBs have been observed in sediments and in biota. However, organisms remain exposed to complex mixtures of contaminants including regulated persistent compounds remaining in the ...