Hg concentrations and related risk assessment in coral reef crustaceans, molluscs and fish from New Caledonia

Tiphaine Chouvelon (1) , Michel Warnau (1, 2) , Carine Churlaud (3, 4) , Paco Bustamante (1)

1 LIENSs - LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés
2 IAEA-MEL - Marine Environment Laboratories [Monaco]
3 CCA - Centre Commun d'Analyses
4 FREDD - Fédération de Recherche en Environnement pour le Développement Durable - FR 3097

There is a dramatic lack of data on Hg levels in marine organisms from tropical areas, and in particular from New Caledonia. For the first time, this study reports the total Hg concentrations in the tissues of several marine taxa from the New Caledonian lagoon. Seafood from both wild and farmed populations was considered. Hg concentrations varied over 3 orders of magnitudes according to factors including species, age (size/weight), trophic level, lifestyle and geographical origin. Taking into account the edible tissues, estimations of the amount of flesh that should be consumed by a 60-kg person to reach the Hg Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) reveal acceptable risk for Human health in general. However, a risk was clearly identified in one site of the lagoon (i.e. Grande Rade) where high Hg concentrations were measured. These concentrations were higher than values reported in the current literature.

Mots clés: Tropical environment; Metal; Marine products; Seafood; Risk assessment; PTWI

Domaines: Ecotoxicologie

Tiphaine Chouvelon, Michel Warnau, Carine Churlaud, Paco Bustamante. Hg concentrations and related risk assessment in coral reef crustaceans, molluscs and fish from New Caledonia. Environmental Pollution, 2009, 157 (1), pp.331-340. ⟨10.1016/j.envpol.2008.06.027⟩. ⟨hal-00339031⟩