SC/F14/J25

A note on mercury and organochlorine accumulationin the Antarctic fin whale based on JARPAII data
GENTA YASUNAGA AND YOSHIHIRO FUJISE
Institute of Cetacean Research, 4-5 Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0055, Japan
Contact e-mail:yasunaga@cetacean.jp

ABSTRACT
Total mercury (Hg) was determined in 10 liver and 16 muscle samples from fin whales sampled
by JARPAII in the period from 2005/2006 to 2010/2011. In addition PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, HCB
and CHLs were determined in two blubber samples from fin whales sampled in 2010/2011.
Mean concentrations of total Hg in liver and muscle samples were 0.052 and 0.021 (ppm wetwt.), respectively. Mean concentrations of PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, HCB and CHLs were 6.5, 13,0.65, 39 and 4.5 (ng/g fat wt.), respectively. Hg levels in liver and muscle samples from fin andAntarctic minke whales from the Antarctic Ocean were similar and these were one order ofmagnitude lower than those of fin whales from the western North Atlantic Ocean. Hg
accumulation level in whales is affected by age, Hg levels in their prey items, and prey
consumption. Hg levels in their prey items, such as fish and zooplankton, increase with trophic
level. The ‘background’ levels of Hg in open oceans are comparatively similar around the world.
Therefore, geographical differences of Hg levels among the same species could be caused byfood habitats and/or age. Levels of OCs, except for HCB, in fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean
were similar to those in the Antarctic minke whales. These levels were extremely lower thanthose in fin whales from the middle latitude of the northern hemisphere nearby human activity,
and those in killer whales from the Antarctic Ocean. These results suggest that the OCs levels inwhales could mainly be affected by prey position in the food chain and area. OCs levels in fin
and Antarctic minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean could be the lowest among whale species in
the world. HCB levels in large whales would be affected by trophic levels of its preys rather than
the spatial differences.
KEYWORDS: FIN
POLLUTANTS

WHALE;MERCURY;

ORGANOCHLORINES;

ANTARCTIC;INTRODUCTION
The persistent organochlorine compounds (OCs) and total mercury (Hg) are released into the environment
due to their highly persistent character. The systematic monitoring programmes of the OCs and Hg areneeded to monitor and predict the behavior and fate of the pollutants in the global environment. The
Antarctic Ocean is one of important areas for environmental monitoring of the OCs, because it is at theend of their global transportation. Therefore, the monitoring in this area could provide information on the
global dynamics of these pollutants.
For this reason, monitoring of pollutants in baleen whales and the ecosystem were added to a part of thefirst objective of the JARPAII survey (Pastene et al., 2014). Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) arecomparatively large in size and are abundant in the Antarctic ecosystem. However, there is little
information about pollutants in fin whales in Antarctic Ocean.
The objective of the pollution study in the JARPAII is to monitor levels and fate of Hg and OCs, such aspolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethanes and metabolites (DDTs),
hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and chlordane compounds (CHLs),in fin whales. However, most of the samples in this study since 2005/2006 were lost after the 2011
earthquake and tsunami (see IWC, 2012). Therefore, the limited number of samples not affected by thedisaster was compared with samples from other baleen whales in the previous studies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ten samples of liver from 4 males and 6 females and 16 muscle samples from 8 males and 8 females of
fin whales taken form Area V in 2010/2011 were measured in the Hg analysis, and PCBs, DDTs, HCHs,

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HCB and CHLs were measured in two blubber samples from 2 males (Table 1). All cryopreserved
samples were stored in polyethylene bags at -20°C until analysis.
The liver and muscle samples were sent to the Japan Food Research Laboratories (Tokyo, Japan) for Hg
analyses. Analyses were performed according to the public analytical method of Japan (Japan Ministry of
Welfare, 1973).
In the laboratory, OCs were determined by a GC-ECD (Hewlett Packard 5890 Series) and by GC-MS(JEOL Ltd., JMS-700; JMS-SX102A). Chemical analysis of the OCs was carried out using the standard
method described by Environmental Agency of Japan, with some modifications (Japan Environmental
Agency, 1998). Concentrations of OCs were expressed on a fat weight basis. Accuracy and precision of
the methods were confirmed using 'Organics in cod liver oil' (NIST 1588a). Chemical analyses were
performed by the Miura Institute of Environmental Science.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Mean concentrations of total Hg in livers and muscles were 0.052 and 0.021 (ppm wet wt.), respectively(Table 2). And mean concentrations of PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, HCB and CHLs were 6.5, 13, 0.65, 39 and
4.5 (ng/g fat wt.), respectively (Table 2).
Hg
Mean concentrations of Hg in liver and muscle of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study(Table 2) were one order of magnitude lower than those of fin whales from the western North Atlantic
Ocean (Table 3, Sanpera et al., 1993), whereas they were similar to those of Antarctic minke whales fromthe Antarctic Ocean (Table 3, Yasunaga et al., 2014a). Hg accumulation level in whales is affected by age,
Hg levels in their prey items, prey consumption. And, Hg levels in their prey items, such as fish andzooplankton, increase with trophic level (Konovalov, 2000), and background levels of Hg in open oceans
are comparatively similar in the world’s oceans (Sohrin and Issiki, 2005). Therefore, geographicaldifference of Hg levels among the same species could be caused by food habitat and/or age.
Organochlorines
Mean concentrations of PCBs in blubber of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study (Table 2)
were 3 orders of magnitude lower than those of fin whales from the North Atlantic Ocean (Table 4,
Aguilar and Borrell, 1988; Hobbs et al., 2001; Gauthier et al., 1997) and those of killer whales from theAntarctic Ocean (Table 4, Krahn et al., 2008), whereas they were one order of magnitude lower thanthose of Antarctic minke whales from the Antarctic Ocean (Table 4, Yasunaga et al., 2014a).
Mean concentrations of DDTs in blubber of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study (Table 2)
were 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than those of fin whales from the North Atlantic Ocean (Table 4,
Aguilar and Borrell, 1988; Hobbs et al., 2001; Gauthier et al., 1997) and those of killer whales from theAntarctic Ocean (Table 4, Krahn et al., 2008), whereas they were one order of magnitude lower thanthose of fin whales (Table 4, Henry and Best, 1983) and Antarctic minke whales (Table 4, Yasunaga et al.,2014a) from the Antarctic Ocean.
Mean concentrations of HCHs in blubber of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study (Table 2)
were 3 orders of magnitude lower than those of fin whales from the North Atlantic Ocean (Table 4,
Hobbs et al., 2001; Gauthier et al., 1997), whereas they were similar to those of Antarctic minke whales
from the Antarctic Ocean (Table 4, Yasunaga et al., 2014a).
Mean concentrations of HCB in blubber of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study (Table 2)
were 2-7 times lower than those of fin whales from the North Atlantic Ocean (Table 4, Hobbs et al.,
2001; Gauthier et al., 1997) and Antarctic minke whales from the Antarctic Ocean (Table 4, Yasunaga etal., 2014a), whereas they were about 20 times lower than those of killer whales from the Antarctic Ocean(Table 4, Krahn et al., 2008).
Mean concentrations of CHLs in blubber of fin whales from the Antarctic Ocean in this study (Table 2)
were 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than those of fin whales from the North Atlantic Ocean (Table 4,
Hobbs et al., 2001; Gauthier et al., 1997) and those of killer whales from the Antarctic Ocean (Table 4,
Krahn et al., 2008), whereas they were one order of magnitude lower than those of Antarctic minke
whales (Table 4, Yasunaga et al., 2014a) from the Antarctic Ocean.
Levels of OCs, except for HCB, in fin whales from Antarctic Ocean were similar to those in Antarctic2

minke whales, whereas were extremely lower than those in fin whales from the middle latitude of thenorthern hemisphere nearby human activity and in killer whales, a top predator, from the Antarctic Ocean.
On the other hand, the HCB levels in fin whales in the Antarctic were extremely lower than those of killer
whales, whereas the differences of HCB levels among fin whales in both hemispheres were comparatively
smaller than those of other OCs. Zhang and Lohmann (2010) reported that the HCB levels (0.4-0.8 pg/m3)
in Oceans of the southern hemisphere were slightly lower than those of northern hemisphere (0.4-1.6
pg/m3). Therefore HCB levels in large whales would be affected by the trophic levels of its preys rather
than the spatial differences.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank L.A. Pastene of the Institute of Cetacean Research for helpful suggestions and criticism on the
manuscript.
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whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and their prey species from the Antarctic and the North Pacific.
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Gauthier, J. M., Metcalfe, C. D. and Sears, R. 1997. Chlorinated organic contaminants in blubber biopsies
from northwestern Atlantic Balaenopterid whales summering in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Mar. Environ.
Res. 44:201-23.
Henry, J. and Best, P.B. 1983. Organochlorine residues in whales landed at Durban, South Africa. Mar.
Pollut. Bull. 14:223-7.
Hobbs, K.E., Muir, D.C.G. and Mitchell, E. 2001. Temporal and biogeographic comparisons of PCBs andpersistent organochlorine pollutants in the blubber of fin whales from eastern Canada in 1971-1991.
Environ. Pollut. 114:243-54.
International Whaling Commission. 2012. Report of the Scientific Committee. Annex P1. Effect of the
March 11th earthquake and tsunami on JARPAII/JARPNII data and samples. J. Cetacean Res. Manage.
(Suppl.) 13:308-9.
Japan Ministry of Welfare. 1974. Provisional regulatory standards for the level of mercury in fish andshellfish, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese).
Konovalov, Y.D. 2000. Mercury in the fish organism (A review). Hydrobiol. J. 36:51-65.
Krahn, M., Pitman, R., Burrows, D., Herman, D. and Pearce, R. 2008. Use of chemical tracers to assess
diet and persistent organic pollutants in Antarctic Type C killer whales. Mar. Mamm. Sci. 24:643-63.
Pastene, L., Fujise, Y. and Hatanaka. 2014. The Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit
in the Antarctic-Phase II (JARPAII): origin, objectives, research progress made in the period 2005/062010/2011 and relevance for management and conservation of whales and the ecosystem. Paper
SC/F14/J1 presented to the IWC Sponsored Meeting to Review Data and Results from the Japanese
Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic-Phase II (JARPAII) (JARPAII Review
Meeting), February 2014.
Sanpera, C., Capelli, R., Minganti, V. and Jover, L.1993. Total and organic mercury in North Atlantic fin
whales. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 26:135-9.
Sigurjónsson, J. and Vínkingsson, G.A. 1997. Seasonal abundance of and estimated food consumption bycetaceans in Icelandic and Adjacent waters. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci. 22:271-87.
Sohrin, Y. and Issiki, K. (ed.) 2005. Chemistry of Ocean and lake. Kyoto University Press, Kyoto, 560pp.

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Tamura, T. 2014. Preliminary analyses on prey composition by fin whales and feeding impact on krill
resources by baleen whales in Area IIIE, IV, V and VIW based on JARPAII data. Paper SC/F14/J16
presented to the IWC Sponsored Meeting to Review Data and Results from the Japanese Whale
Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic-Phase II (JARPAII) (JARPAII Review
Meeting), February 2014.
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and its prey based on JARPAII data. Paper SC/F14/J23 presented to the IWC Sponsored Meeting to
Review Data and Results from the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the
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whale based on JARPAII data. Paper SC/F14/J24 presented to the IWC Sponsored Meeting to Review
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the open Pacific. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44:3832-8.

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Table 1. Samples of fin whales taken from JARPAII surveys used in this study.

Survey year

2005/2006

2006/2007
2008/20092009/20102010/2011

ID No.
2005/2006-F001
2005/2006-F002
2005/2006-F003
2005/2006-F004
2005/2006-F005
2005/2006-F006
2005/2006-F007
2005/2006-F008
2005/2006-F009
2005/2006-F010
2006/2007-F002
2006/2007-F003
2008/2009-F001
2009/2010-F001
2010/2011-F001
2010/2011-F002

Sex
M
F
F
M
M
F
F
F
M
F
M
F
F
M
M
M

Body length
19.17
20.05
19.47
18.73
19.14
19.15
20.22
18.22
18.3
19.35
20.67
21.15
14.79
17.61
19.05
18.99

Table 2. Concentrations of total Hg (ppm wet wt.) in liver and muscle, and PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, HCB
and CHLs (ng/g fat wt.) in blubber of fin whales taken from JARPAII surveys.
Survey year

2005/2006

2006/2007
2008/20092009/20102010/2011

ID No.
2005/2006-F001
2005/2006-F002
2005/2006-F003
2005/2006-F004
2005/2006-F005
2005/2006-F006
2005/2006-F007
2005/2006-F008
2005/2006-F009
2005/2006-F010
2006/2007-F002
2006/2007-F003
2008/2009-F001
2009/2010-F001
2010/2011-F001
2010/2011-F002

Average
min
max
n

Hg
Liver
0.068
0.046
0.06
0.063
0.046
0.041
0.054
0.022
0.036
0.079

0.052
0.022
0.079
10

Muscle
0.035
0.025
0.027
0.014
0.013
0.027
0.017
0.013
0.008
0.027
0.05
0.03
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.03
0.021
0.008
0.035
17

PCBs
Blubber

DDTs
Blubber

HCHs
Blubber

HCB
Blubber

CHLs
BlubberFat (%)
Blubber

5.2
7.8
6.5

10
15
13

0.35
0.94
0.65

42
35
39

3.6
5.4
4.5

67.7
72.4
70.1

2

2

2

2

2

2

Table 3. Mean concentrations of total mercury (ppm wet wt.) in liver and muscle of baleen whales
reported from different parts of the world.
species

Location

NW Atlantic Ocean(Factory in Spain)
NW Atlantic Ocean
fin whale(Factory in Iceland)
Antarctic minke Antarctic Ocean
whale(Area V)fin whale

Hg (ppm wet wt.)
Liver
MuscleReferences

4-49

0.55

0.13

Sanpera et al. (1993)

5 (5M)

12-26

0.55

0.20

Sanpera et al. (1993)

51 (51M)

1-42

0.081

Survey yearn (sex)Age orMaturity

1983, 1984

11 (11M)

1986

2010/2011

5

Yasunaga et al. (2014a)

Table 4. Mean concentrations (ng/g fat wt.) of organochlorines in blubber of baleen whales reported fromdifferent parts of the world.
species

Location

Antarctic Ocean
fin whale(Landed at Durban)
NE Atlantic
fin whale(factory of NW Spain)
NW Atlantic
fin whale(Newfoundland)
NW Atlantic
fin whale(Nova Scotia)
NW Atlantic
fin whale(St Lawrence)
Antarctic minke Antarctic Ocean
whale(Area V)
Antarctic Ocean
Killer whale(Ross sea)
ND: Not detected

Survey yearn (sex)1974

6 (3M3F)

1982-1984

27 (27)Age orMaturity

PCBs

DDTs

<500

140

Henry and Best (1983)

1537

1165

Aguilar and Borrell (1988)

1971-1972 12 (6M6F)

1470

4350

241

288

579

Hobbs et al. (2001)

1971-1972

5 (4M1F)

5640

23800

166

218

1180

Hobbs et al. (2001)

1991

15

2670

3810

215

96.3

619

Gauthier et al. (1997)

2010/2011

5 (5M)

21-25

28

100

0.8

140

25

Yasunaga et al. (2014b)

2005-2006

7(7M)

Mature

2100

4300

ND

740

1300

Krahn et al. (2008)

8-15

6

HCHs

HCB

CHLs

References