Blust, R.

Covaci, A.

Das, K.

van Elk, C.

Weijs, L.

Open Marine Archive

Persistent organic pollutants in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: Young wildlife at risk?

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PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN HARBOUR PORPOISES FROM 
THE NORTH SEA FROM 1990 UNTIL 2008: YOUNG WILDLIFE AT RISK?  
Weijs Liesbeth1,2, Cornelis van Elk3, Krishna Das4, Ronny Blust1 and Adrian Covaci1,2  
1 Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, Dept of Biology, University of Antwerp, 
Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium 
E-mail: liesbeth.weijs@ua.ac.be   
2 Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium 
3 SOS Dolfijn, Dolfinarium Harderwijk, Strandboulevard 1, 3841 AB Harderwijk, the Netherlands 
4 Laboratory for Oceanology-MARE Center, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium 
 
In the European North Sea, harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are top predators with relatively 
long life spans and a limited capacity for metabolic biotransformation of contaminants compared to 
some other marine mammal species. As such, they are exposed to a mixture of persistent 
pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), DDT 
and metabolites (DDXs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and chlordanes (CHLs) that bioaccumulate in 
their tissues. We report here on the levels of persistent organic pollutants in blubber, liver and 
kidney of harbour porpoise neonates (n=3), calves (n=15), juveniles (n=6) and adults (n=4) of the 
southern North Sea. Concentrations of almost all contaminant classes decrease slightly in all age 
groups over the period 1990–2008. For some classes (e.g. PCBs and DDXs) however, levels seem to 
increase little in harbour porpoise calves. In all animals, blubber had the highest concentrations, 
followed by liver and kidney, whereas liver and kidney were the preferred tissues for several 
compounds, such as octa- and deca-PCBs. Our data suggest that harbour porpoises calves are 
exposed to higher or comparable concentrations of POPs and somewhat different patterns of 
selected POPs than adults, potentially placing them, and the entire population, at a disproportionate 
risk for exposure-related health effects. 
 


Persistent organic pollutants in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: Young wildlife at risk?

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