Mercury in the fish of New Yorkʼs Great Lakes: A quarter century of near stability

• Published in: Ecotoxicology (London) 2020-12, Vol.29 (10), p.1721-1738
• Main Authors: Richter, Wayne, Skinner, Lawrence C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal tissues; Bass; Bioaccumulation; Coastal inlets; Collections; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Fish; Fish fillets; Freshwater fishes; History; Lakes; Mercury; Mercury (metal); Prey; Seafoods; Species; Stability; Temporal variations; Tissue; Wet weight
• ISSN: 0963-9292; 1573-3017
• DOI: 10.1007/s10646-019-02130-1

We collected 849 fish of 16 species from New York portions of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the intervening Niagara River and its tributary Cayuga Creek, and analyzed fillets from individual fish for total mercury. Concentrations ranged from 0.029 to 1.090 ppm wet weight, with 92% below the EPA tissue residue criterion of 0.3 ppm, and thus not posing an undue risk from human consumption. We compared these 2010–2017 results to historical data spanning 40 years to assess temporal changes. The temporal pattern was generally consistent among water bodies and species: Mercury concentrations differed little between the most recent collections and fish taken from 1999–2008 and 1988–1996, while concentrations in all three of these periods were generally lower than in 1970. Smallmouth Bass from Lake Ontario were an exception with a continued decline, likely due to diet change following the introduction of exotic prey. Overall, though, fish tissue mercury concentrations from these large water bodies, which integrate regional influences, appear to have changed little in the last quarter century. We also report a consistent spatial pattern for multiple species having lower mercury concentrations in Lake Erie than in Lake Ontario over the period of record.