Persistent organic pollutants in selected fishes of the Gulf of Finland Leili Järv a, ⁎, Hannu Kiviranta b , Jani Koponen b , Panu Rantakokko b , Päivi Ruokojärvi b , Maia Radin d , Tiit Raid a , Ott Roots c , Mart Simm a a Estonian Marine Institute of Tartu University, Mäealuse 14, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia b National Institute for Health and Welfare, Neulaniementie 4, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland c Estonian Environmental Research Centre, Marja 4d, 10617 Tallinn, Estonia d Ministries of Rural Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Lai 39/Lai 41, 15056 Tallinn, Estonia abstract article info Article history: Received 28 March 2016 Received in revised form 27 September 2016 Accepted 2 October 2016 Available online xxxx Fish samples of Baltic herring, sprat, flounder, perch, salmon, and river lamprey were collected from the Gulf of Finland in 2013 and 2014 with the aim to get an overview of the occurrence of pollutants in fish caught in Esto- nian waters. The content of non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (ndl PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organic tin (OT) and perfluorocompounds (PFAS) are examined and discussed in the study. The results revealed that potentially higher content of organo-tin compounds, perfluorocompounds and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in Baltic herring, salmon and river lamprey may cause concern regarding human exposure. It is important to link pollutant content to lipid content of fish taking into account their seasonal variation in dif- ferent age classes. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polychlorinated biphenyls Perfluorinated compounds Polybrominated diphenyl ethers Organotin compounds Fish Gulf of Finland Baltic Sea 1. Introduction The Baltic Sea is a complex ecosystem with a multitude of physical, chemical and biological interactions functioning on various temporal and spatial scales. The environmental state of the Baltic Sea is influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors. The key environmental stressors are (1) eutrophication, (2) over-fishing, (3) risk of chemical and/or oil spills, (4) marine litter, (5) invasive species and (6) hazardous substances. These environmental problems together with climate changes downscale the Baltic Sea's ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. The changes in the ecosystem state can have impacts also to human welfare. Hazardous substances, both natural and artificial compounds, cause adverse effects on the ecosystem. Examples are persistent organic pol- lutants (POPs) - PCB, DDT, dioxins, etc., which can be toxic even in very low concentrations, and also trace metals - mercury, lead, cadmi- um, etc., which are toxic in much higher concentrations generally. Pol- lution with the hazardous substances constitutes a serious threat to the Baltic Sea environment and has already led to detrimental effects on biodiversity harming flora's and fauna's immune- and hormone sys- tems impairing their general health and reproduction status. While some of hazardous substances bio-accumulating properties they magni- fy through the food chain to higher species at higher trophic levels pos- ing a threat also for humans who consume fish caught in the Baltic Sea. The long residence time of hazardous substances, in combination with the introduction of new compounds, poses a grave threat for the state of the future Baltic Sea and health of future generations. (Bignert et al., 1998; HELCOM, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c). However, regardless to the actuality of the issue, the research of haz- ardous substances in the Baltic Sea (incl. the Gulf of Finland) environ- ment has a fairly short history. Presently one of the four segments of the ecosystem health targeted by the HELCOM BSAP (Baltic Sea Action Plan) is monitoring of hazardous substances, with an ambitious zero- emission target for all manmade hazardous substances in the whole Bal- tic Sea catchment by 2021 (HELCOM, 2010c). The objectives of current study were: 1. to get a short overview of the content of selected persistent organ- ic pollutants: non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organotin (OT) and perfluorinated compounds (PFC), in five most consumable fish species: Baltic herring, sprat, flounder, perch and highly profitable species salm- on and river lamprey, of the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea. 2. to link the pollutant content to lipid content of fish and follow their seasonal variation in different age classes. Journal of Marine Systems xxx (2016) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: leili.jarv@gmail.com (L. Järv), Hannu.Kiviranta@thl.fi (H. Kiviranta), jani.koponen@thl.fi (J. Koponen), panu.rantakokko@thl.fi (P. Rantakokko), paivi.ruokojarvi@thl.fi (P. Ruokojärvi), maia.radin@agri.ee (M. Radin), tiit.raid@gmail.com (T. Raid), ott.roots@klab.ee (O. Roots), mart.simm@ut.ee (M. Simm). MARSYS-02884; No of Pages 5 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2016.10.002 0924-7963/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Marine Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmarsys Please cite this article as: Järv, L., et al., Persistent organic pollutants in selected fishes of the Gulf of Finland, J. Mar. Syst. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2016.10.002