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Article

Global Assessment of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Farmed and Wild Salmon

Ronald A. Hites,*^† Jeffery A. Foran,^‡ Steven J. Schwager,^§ Barbara A. Knuth, M. Coreen Hamilton, and David O. Carpenter^#

School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, Midwest Center for Environmental Science and Public Policy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology and Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, AXYS Analytical Services Ltd., P.O. Box 2219, 2045 Mills Road, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada V8L 3S8, and Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York 12144

Environ. Sci. Technol., 2004, 38 (19), pp 4945–4949

DOI: 10.1021/es049548m

Publication Date (Web): August 10, 2004

Corresponding author e-mail: HitesR@Indiana.edu.

†

Indiana University.

‡

Midwest Center for Environmental Science and Public Policy.

Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology, Cornell University.

Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University.

AXYS Analytical Services Ltd.

University at Albany.

Abstract

We have shown recently that levels of persistent, bioaccumulative contaminants (polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and several chlorinated pesticides) are significantly higher in farmed than in wild salmon and that European farm-raised salmon have significantly greater toxic contaminant loads than those raised in North and South America. In this paper, we extend these results to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and show that farm-raised salmon have higher levels of these compounds than wild salmon. We also show that farm-raised salmon from Europe have higher PBDE levels than those raised in North America and that both European and North American farm-raised salmon have higher PBDE levels than those farm-raised in Chile. Among the species of wild salmon, chinook had significantly elevated PBDE levels relative to the other wild species. These elevated PBDE levels may be related to chinook's feeding behavior and trophic level. Among all of the wild species we studied, chinook tend to feed higher in the food web throughout their adult life and grow to be larger individuals.

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