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The development of an area-based polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) food-web bioaccumulation model enabled a critical evaluation of the efficacy of sediment quality criteria and prey tissue residue guidelines in protecting fish-eating resident killer whales of British Columbia and adjacent waters. Model-predicted and observed PCB concentrations in resident killer whales and Chinook salmon were in good agreement, supporting the model's application for risk assessment and criteria development. Model application shows that PCB concentrations in the sediments from the resident killer whale's Critical Habitats and entire foraging range leads to PCB concentrations in most killer whales that exceed PCB toxicity threshold concentrations reported for marine mammals. Results further indicate that current PCB sediment quality and prey tissue residue criteria for fish-eating wildlife are not protective of killer whales and are not appropriate for assessing risks of PCB-contaminated sediments to high trophic level biota. We present a novel methodology for deriving sediment quality criteria and tissue residue guidelines that protect biota of high trophic levels under various PCB management scenarios. PCB concentrations in sediments and in prey that are deemed protective of resident killer whale health are much lower than current criteria values, underscoring the extreme vulnerability of high trophic level marine mammals to persistent and bioaccumulative contaminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in blubber biopsy samples from 22 live-captured Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) that had just entered the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada, for their overwintering feeding season. ∑PBDE ranged from 50μgkg−1 (lipid weight) in adult females to 3780μgkg−1 in subadult individuals. ∑PCBs ranged from 272μgkg−1 in adult females to 14280μgkg−1 in subadult individuals. While most PBDE and PCB congeners were transferred through milk to pups, PCBs with log K OW >7.0 (PCBs 206, 207, 208 and 209) appeared constrained, resulting in a lighter mixture in pups compared to adult females. The ratio of individual PCB congeners by metabolic group (Groups I, II, III, IV and V) to PCB-153 regressed against length of males suggested poor biotransformation of these compounds (slopes did not differ from zero, p >0.05). PBDE congeners 49, 99, 153 and 183 appeared bioaccumulative (slopes of ratio BDE/PCB 153 versus length were higher than zero, p <0.05), but the dominance of the single congener, BDE-47 (64% of total PBDEs), likely due in part to debromination pathways, reduced our ability to explore congener-specific dynamics of PBDEs in these pinnipeds. With 80% of our Steller sea lions exceeding a recent toxicity reference value for PCBs, the fasting-associated mobilization of these contaminants raises concerns about a heightened vulnerability to adverse effects during annual migrations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An individually based (IB) model to predict PCB concentrations in the bottlenose dolphin population of Charleston, SC, USA, was developed with the aim to gain a better understanding of the bioaccumulation behavior and health risk of dietary PCBs across the population and their prey. PCB concentrations predicted in male and female bottlenose dolphin were in good agreement with observed tissue concentrations corroborating the reliability of the model performance and its utility in gaining a more complete view of risk. The modeled cumulative distribution of ΣPCB concentrations for the population with a breakdown into juvenile, adult male, and female subclasses ranged from 3600 to 144,400 ng/g lipid with 66% to >80% of the population exceeding the established threshold for adverse health effects of 17,000 ng/g lipid. The model estimated that a dietary PCB concentration not exceeding 5.1 ng/g wet wt would be required to reach a condition where 95% of the population would have tissue levels below the health effect threshold. The IB model for PCBs in bottlenose dolphins provides a novel approach to estimating the maximum acceptable dietary concentration for PCBs, a central and important factor to protect these apex predators. The model also enables effective prediction of concentrations in dolphins from fish contaminant surveys which are logistically easier and less costly to collect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]