Tissue residue concentrations of organohalogens and trace elements in adult Pacific salmon returning to the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada.

We report measured concentrations of organohalogens and trace elements in muscle and eggs of returning wild Pacific sockeye and chinook salmon during their 2007 migration through the Fraser River watershed in Canada. Chemical analyses revealed the presence of ppb to ppm levels of a wide variety of contaminants in these fish, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs); polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs); polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs); organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) such as DDTs, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), octachlorostyrene, and cyclodienes; and Hg, As, Cd, Pb, and several other trace elements. Body weights and flesh lipid contents declined during upstream migration, resulting in significantly higher (p < 0.05) lipid-normalized concentrations of lipophilic organohalogens (PCBs, PCDD/Fs, pesticides) in those spawning salmon. Postmigration magnification factors (MFs) of organohalogens (0.1-10) were comparable to previous observations and model predictions. MFs generally increased with increasing hydrophobicity (K(OW)). For example, MFs of tetra- and pentachlorobenzenes and HCH isomers (log K(OW) range: 3.8-5) were relatively low (between 0.1 and 1.7) compared with those of more lipophilic compounds (log K(OW) > 6) such as PCBs, DDTs, and mirex (MFs between 5 and 10). Lipid-normalized muscle:egg ratios in female salmon, which varied between 0.1 and 8, also exhibited a positive relationship with chemical K(OW). The results indicate that lipophilic compounds (K(OW) > 10(6)) can be magnified in flesh lipids of Pacific salmon during spawning migration, but maternal transfer kinetics (deposition to eggs) of those chemicals are relatively slow compared with less hydrophobic compounds. 2,3,7,8-TCDD toxic equivalents (ΣTEQs) in eggs of these spawning salmon, calculated using WHO toxic equivalency factors (WHO-TEFs) for fish health, in some cases exceeded the 0.3 pg·g(-1) threshold level associated with 30% salmonid egg mortality, indicating the potential for reproductive impacts in Fraser River salmon populations.