Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers, dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls in seals and sediment from the Gulf of Finland

Abstract

Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were analyzed in seals from the Gulf of Finland and in sediments from the Gulf of Finland and near Gotland. The sediments included one surface core from both sampling sites. The seal material consisted of 14 ringed seals and 6 grey seals that all were found dead and examined for pathology. The main aims were to scrutinize levels and patterns of PCDEs for the first time in seals from the Baltic Sea and to estimate whether chlorinated compounds mentioned have an influence on an exceptional high mortality that occurred among ringed seals in the Gulf of Finland in late 1991. The concentrations of 50 congeners of tetra- through deca-CDEs analyzed ranged from < 0.3 to 62 ng/g lipid weight (lw) in seal blubber, but in the sediments PCDEs were non-detectable (tetra- through hepta-CDEs < 0.1 ng/g dry weight (dw)). In ringed seals with good nutritional status, the concentrations of almost all PCDE congeners were greater in two adult females than in specimens of younger age groups. The concentrations of PCDDs and PCDFs as TCDD-equivalents exceeded those of the coplanar (non-ortho) PCBs in sediments, whereas non- and monoortho PCBs constituted greater toxic loads as those calculated for PCDDs and PCDFs in seals. However, the levels revealed do not explain the high mortality of ringed seals.