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Highlights: [•] Microplastic abundance and distribution were characterized in NE Pacific seawater samples. [•] Microplastic particles (62–5000μm) were found in seawater at all stations. [•] Microplastic concentrations were highest nearshore, consistent with land-based sources. [•] Low microplastic levels SW of Vancouver Island are consistent with La Perouse Bank upwelling. [•] This assessment provides a basis to evaluate the in-coming debris from Tohoku Tsunami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Compared to PCBs, PBDEs were preferentially bound to particles in water, reflecting their chemical properties. [•] Physical partitioning governed PCB and PBDE uptake by plankton from water. [•] Plankton biomass influenced a log Kow – related uptake of PCBs and PBDEs. [•] Strait of Georgia water had an estimated 52kg of PCBs and 27kg of PBDEs, but plankton only ∼1kg of each. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sediment-associated hydrocarbons can pose a risk to wildlife that rely on benthic marine food webs. We measured hydrocarbons in sediments from the habitat of protected sea otters in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Alkane concentrations were dominated by higher odd-chain n-alkanes at all sites, indicating terrestrial plant inputs. While remote sites were dominated by petrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), small harbour sites within sea otter habitat and sites from an urban reference area reflected weathered petroleum and biomass and fossil fuel combustion. The partitioning of hydrocarbons between sediments and adjacent food webs provides an important exposure route for sea otters, as they consume ∼25% of their body weight per day in benthic invertebrates. Thus, exceedences of PAH sediment quality guidelines designed to protect aquatic biota at 20% of the sites in sea otter habitat suggest that sea otters are vulnerable to hydrocarbon contamination even in the absence of catastrophic oil spills. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to distinguish between ‘local’ and ‘background’ sources of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in coastal British Columbia (Canada) air, we collected samples from two sites: a remote site on western Vancouver Island, and a near-urban site in the Strait of Georgia. Seasonally-integrated samples of vapor, particulate, and rain were collected continuously during 365 days for analysis of 275 PCB and PBDE congeners. While deposition of the legacy PCBs was similar at both sampling sites, deposition of PBDEs at the remote site amounted to 42% (10.4 mg/ha/year) of that at the near-urban site. Additional research into atmospheric circulation in the NE Pacific Ocean will provide more insight into the transport and fate of priority pollutants in this region, but trans-Pacific delivery of PBDEs to the west coast of North America may underlie in part our observations. For example, approximately 40% of >12,000 ten-day back trajectories calculated for the remote site originated over Asia, compared to only 2% over North America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We examine the influence of biology, ecology and contaminant exposure on vitamin A and E profiles in Arctic beluga whales. [•] PCBs altered vitamin profiles after accounting for sex, age, condition and feeding ecology. [•] We propose a toxicity reference value for the disruption of vitamin A and E profiles in beluga of 1.6mg/kg PCBs. [•] The use of vitamins as biomarkers of contaminant effects is contingent upon an understanding of wildlife biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We previously reported in vivo induction of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) by β-naphthoflavone in skin and liver biopsies of captive harbour seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi). The present study evaluated CYP1A expression (immunoblot analysis and ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity-EROD) in harbour seals using two study designs: i) skin and liver biopsies from 20 harbour seal pups captured from coastal British Columbia (BC, Canada) and temporarily housed in captivity; and ii) skin biopsies from 42 free-ranging harbour seals captured and sampled on-site in multiple locations in BC and Washington State (USA). Toxic Equivalency Quotients (TEQs) were calculated for polychlorinated biphenyl, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin, and polychlorinated dibenzofuran residues measured in blubber from a subset of study animals (n =30). CYP1A data from the seal pups held temporarily in captivity show that CYP1A protein levels were greater in liver than skin and that CYP1A protein and EROD activity were correlated in skin and liver. However, analysis of free-ranging seals from different sites revealed that blubber organochlorine TEQ values did not correlate with skin CYP1A levels. CYP1A protein levels and EROD activities in skin of seal pups from the BC locations and from Puget Sound were relatively low, possibly reflecting contaminant levels that were not high enough to elicit a response, a small sample size, or methodological limitations. Our results show that CYP1A measurements in skin show promise as a biomarker of contaminant exposure, but that refinements to techniques and a larger sample size are needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biomarkers of organochlorine exposure, such as the induction of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A), can be used to assess the impact of environmental contaminants on the health of free-ranging marine mammal populations. The objective of the present study was to measure CYP1A in skin and liver biopsies obtained from live harbour seals (Phoca vitulina). Twelve harbour seal pups, aged three to five weeks, were captured from the Fraser River estuary, British Columbia, Canada, and temporarily held in captivity. Skin (∼60 mg) and liver (∼40 mg) biopsies, obtained while seals were under general anaesthesia, yielded sufficient tissue for the measurement of CYP1A by immunoblot analysis and ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity. A short-term exposure experiment, in which harbour seals (n =3) were treated orally with β-naphthoflavone (BNF), resulted in increased hepatic and cutaneous CYP1A protein levels, consistent with observations in other mammals. This study is the first to measure CYP1A in skin and liver biopsies from live harbour seals and to report in vivo BNF-associated CYP1A induction in a marine mammal. The results demonstrate that microsamples collected using minimally-invasive techniques can provide toxicologically-relevant information form marine mammals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Marine coastal areas of British Columbia, Canada are subject to a gradient of increasing anthropogenic sources from pristine areas in the north to the more urbanised areas of the south. Along the gradient, the relative contributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from multiple natural and anthropogenic sources are not well understood, but concerns linger about bioavailability and consequent risks to marine biota. Composition patterns and principal components analysis (PCA) models for surface sediment and core samples collected along this transect indicate that samples from the urbanised Vancouver area have the highest proportions of tricyclic terpane, hopane and sterane biomarkers, UCM (unresolved complex mixture), the alkyl fluoranthene/pyrene and benz[ a ]anthracene/chrysene series and most parent PAHs. Those from Hecate and Queen Charlotte Straits and other locations in the Strait of Georgia have, on the other hand, higher proportions of the resolved alkanes, and petrogenic alkyl naphthalene, fluorene, dibenzothiophene and phenanthrene/anthracene series. PAH ratios clearly indicate a predominance of combustion sources for the four ring and higher parent PAHs for all the sediments. Most samples have values close to the biomass/solid fuel and liquid fuel combustion borderline for ratios of the major PAHs, but liquid fuel combustion input dominates closer to urbanised locations. Ratios also suggest similar pyrogenic and petrogenic inputs between central Hecate Strait and reference sediments from Hecate Strait through to Queen Charlotte Strait, which indicates that biomass combustion and immature coal formations are the major putative respective sources for the reference areas. Alkyl PAH ratios for the C 3 and C 4 naphthalenes, C 2 and C 3 phenanthrenes and 3- and 2-methylchrysene, reflecting terrigenous/vascular plant sources and petroleum maturity, exhibit marked differences between Comox bituminous coal and Alberta Sweet Mixed Blend (ASMB) oil and reveal that the petrogenic input in all of the sediments is non-biodegraded. Ratios of these alkyl PAHs with multiple substituents indicate that the sediment samples in the northern Strait of Georgia closest to the Comox coal field receive relatively constant input of eroded coal, while those in the southern Strait of Georgia and Vancouver Harbour show a composition closest to ASMB oil. PAHs associated with liquid fossil fuel combustion and petroleum discharges adjacent to urbanised areas are expected to be fully bioavailable to marine food webs, while the char from biomass combustion and coal from immature deposits in more remote areas would have limited bioavailability. This implies that biota in remote areas of Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound are likely not adapted to the presence of oil and thus would be more sensitive to exposure to spilled oil than those in the more impacted environments in southern British Columbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] PCB, PCDE and PCN concentrations declined by 71–98% in harbor seals from the Salish Sea between 1983 and 2003. [•] PBDE concentrations doubled every 3.1years in harbor seals from 1984 to 2003 but declined thereafter. [•] Among Salish Sea harbor seals, those in Puget Sound had the highest PCB and PBDE concentrations. [•] Changes in food web productivity may explain unexpected contaminant patterns in seals in 2003. [•] The 53,000 harbor seals of the Salish Sea had an estimated burden of 2.5kg of PCBs in 2009. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The question of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioavailability and its relationship to specific PAH sources with different PAH binding characteristics is an important one, because bioavailability drives PAH accumulation in biota and ultimately the biochemical responses to the PAH contaminants. The industrial harbour at Kitimat (British Columbia, Canada) provides an ideal location to study the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of sediment hydrocarbons to low trophic level biota. Samples of soft shell clams (Mya arenaria) and intertidal sediment collected from multiple sites over six years at various distances from an aluminium smelter and a pulp and paper mill were analysed for 106 PAHs, plant diterpenes and other aromatic fraction hydrocarbons. Interpretation using PAH source ratios and multivariate data analysis reveals six principal hydrocarbon sources: PAHs in coke, pitch and emissions from anode combustion from the aluminium smelter, vascular plant terpenes and aromatised terpenes from the pulp and paper mill, petroleum PAHs from shipping and other anthropogenic activities and PAHs from natural plant detritus. Harbour sediments predominantly contain either pitch or pyrogenic PAHs from the smelter, while clams predominantly contain plant derived PAHs and diterpenes from the adjacent pulp mill. PAHs from the smelter have low bioavailability to clams (Biota-Sediment Accumulation Factors; BSAFs <1 for pitch and coke; <10 for anode combustion, decreasing to ∼0.1 for the mass 300 and 302 PAHs), possibly due to binding to pitch or soot carbon matrices. Decreases in PAH isomer ratios between sediments and clams likely reflect a combination of variation in uptake kinetics of petroleum PAHs and compound specific metabolism, with the importance of petroleum PAHs decreasing with increasing molecular weight. Plant derived compounds exhibit little natural bioaccumulation at reference sites, but unsaturated and aromatised diterpenes released from resins by industrial pulping processes are readily accumulated by the clams (BSAFs >500). Thus while most of the smelter associated PAHs in sediments may not be bioavailable to benthic organisms, the plant terpenes (including retene, totarol, ferruginol, manool, dehydroabietane and other plant terpenes that form the chemical defence mechanism of conifers) released by pulp mills are bioavailable and possess demonstrated toxic properties. The large scale release of plant terpenes by some of the many pulp mills located in British Columbia and elsewhere represents a largely undocumented risk to aquatic biota. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), are ubiquitous environmental contaminants of which significant concentrations are reported in upper trophic level animals. In 1998, we collected blubber biopsy samples (n =11) from killer whales (Orcinus orca) inhabiting the coastal waters around Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, southern Indian Ocean, for contaminant analyses. Despite inhabiting an isolated region far removed from industrial activities, these killer whales can presently be considered among the most PCB-contaminated cetaceans in the southern hemisphere, with concentrations ranging from 4.4 to 20.5mg/kg lipid weight (lw). PCDD levels ranged from below the detection limit (5ng/kg) to 77.1ng/kglw and PCDF levels from below the detection limit (7ng/kg) to 36.1ng/kglw. Over 70% of our study animals had PCB concentrations which exceeded a 1.3mg/kg PCB threshold established for endocrine disruption and immunotoxicity in free-ranging harbour seals, suggesting that organic contaminants cannot be ruled out as an additional threat to this declining population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]