Abstract
THE Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has reported high mercury (Hg) levels in marketable fish from several United Kingdom fishing grounds1,2. My studies (Table 1) indicate accompanying high dissolved Hg concentrations in waters within the same study areas. An analysis of both sets of data has revealed a linear relationship (correlation coefficient 0.92) between the mean Hg concentrations of the water and fish. In distant waters a concentration factor of Hg from water to fish was 2.9×103 compared with 10.6×103 in coastal waters between Anglesey and St Bees Head. Fish harvested from these industrially affected waters ( > 50 ng 1−1 mean dissolved Hg) contained more than the 0.5 p.p.m. Hg limit set for edible fish in many countries.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food Report of a Working Party on the Monitoring of Foodstuffs for Mercury and Other Heavy Metals 33 (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1971).
Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food Survey of Mercury in Food, A Supplementary Report 22 (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1973).
Gardner, D. & Riley, J. P., Nature 241, 526–527 (1973).
Gardner, D. & Riley, J. P. J. Cons. int. Explor. Mer. 35, 202–204, (1974).
Gardner, D. & Riley, J. P. Estuar. coastal mar. Sci. 1, 191–192 (1973).
Grimstone, G. Chem. Br. 8, 224–247 (1972).
Heaps, N. S. Rapp. P. - V Reun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer. 167, 147–162 (1974).
Stopford, W. & Goldwater, L. J. Env. Hlth Persp. 12, 115–118 (1975).
Pentreath, R. J. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 24, 103–132 (1976).
Walker, T. I. Aust. J. mar. freshwater Res. 27, 603–616 (1976).
Draper, N. R. & Smith, H. in Applied Regression Analysis 24 (Wiley, New York 1966).
Topping, G. Aquaculture 1, 373–377 (1973).
Underdal, B. Oikos 22, 101–105 (1971).
Graham, M. in Sea Fisheries. Their investigations in the UK (ed. Graham, M.) 332–373 (1956).
Hancock, D. A. Aust. Fisheries 35, 1–5 (1976).
Bailey, D. S. in Int. Conf. Heavy Metals in the Environment, Toronto 1975, C29–C31 (1975).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
GARDNER, D. Mercury in fish and waters of the Irish Sea and other United Kingdom fishing grounds. Nature 272, 49–51 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/272049a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/272049a0
This article is cited by
-
Mercury content in the water and marine organisms in angke estuary, Jakarta bay
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (1987)
-
Mercury content of head hair from residents on the coast of Jakarta Bay
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (1984)
-
Recent trends in research on heavy-metal contamination in the sea
Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen (1980)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
