Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in herring from the southern Baltic, 1981.

A total of 295 samples of muscle tissue from herring netted in 1981 in the southern part of the Baltic Sea were analysed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and analogues (DDE and DDD), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and isomers of benzenehexachloride (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-BHC). The mean values obtained for herring muscle tissue relating to wet weight were: 8.6 micrograms HCB/kg, 12 micrograms alpha-BHC/kg, 20 micrograms gamma-BHC/kg, 41 micrograms p,p'-DDE/kg, 49 micrograms p,p'-DDD/kg, 30 micrograms p,p'-DDT/kg, 120 micrograms sigma DDT/kg and 550 micrograms PCB/kg; beta-BHC was detectable in trace amounts and delta-BHC was not detected. Herring caught in the area under the direct influence of the Vistula River contained higher levels of sigma DDT in their muscles than those in the other regions investigated. Significant positive recti linear correlations were found between the residue concentration of HCB, p,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDD and sigma DDT in muscles and the body length of herring, and between the lipid content and the body length.