Legacy contaminants in the Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas): Are temporal trends reflecting regulations?

• Main Authors: Nöel, Marie, Loseto, Lisa L., Stern, Gary
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Northwest Territories; Beaufort Sea; Beluga; Beluga*; Climate change; Delphinapterus leucas; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/93893; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/AS-2017-0049

Once deposited onto Arctic ecosystems, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) biomagnify in foodwebs such that relatively high levels have been detected in predators like beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). Our study aimed at assessing temporal trends of legacy POPs in Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga blubber collected during traditional harvests in the Mackenzie Estuary area, Northwest Territories. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 14 pesticides were quantified in 185 blubber samples collected between 1989 and 2015. The majority of legacy POPs analyzed showed no significant changes during the study period (ΣPCBs, ΣChlordanes, ΣDDTs, HCB, dieldrin, mirex) and therefore did not reflect regulations put into place over the past decades. While α- (82.6 ± 12.6 and 15.9 ± 1.9 ng/g in 1989 and 2015, respectively) and γ-HCH (126.6 ± 23.9 and 13.9 ± 0.9 ng/g, respectively) showed significant decrease between 1989 and 2015, β-HCH showed a more complex trend with concentrations increasing between 1989 (71.2 ± 13.4 ng/g) and 2004 (276.8 ± 13.5 ng/g) before decreasing until 2015 (174.7 ± 8.3 ng/g). Differences in trends likely reflect physico-chemical properties affecting transport to the Arctic. With climate change and melting sea ice potentially affecting the transport and release of legacy POPs, continuous monitoring is necessary. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author.