Environmental & Analytical Toxicology

Organochlorine Burdens in Harbour Seals from the German Wadden Sea Collected During Two Phocine Distemper Epizootics and Ringed Seals from West Greenland Waters

Abstract

Siebert U*,Heidmann A,Friedhoff N,Kruse H,Rigét F,Adler S,Maser E

Blubber and liver of harbour seals from the German Bight collected between 2001 and 2002 and ringed seals from West Greenland waters were investigated for hexachlorocyclohexane (α-, β- and γ-HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane and its metabolites (DDT, DDE and DDD), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In blubber and liver of both species PCBs 138 and 153 showed the highest concentrations, followed by PCBs 187, 180 and 170. With the exception of PCB 52, the PCB burden in liver and blubber of harbour seals was higher than in ringed seals but not always statistically significant. Compared to levels found in harbour seals from the first seal epidemic in 1988, individuals collected in 2002 showed a decrease in concentrations of organochlorines. These data show that ringed seals from arctic waters are exposed to as large a variety of organochlorines as harbour seals from the North
Sea.