Distribution of organochlorine pesticides in fresh fish carcasses from selected estuaries in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and the associated health risk assessment

In this study, gills and muscles tissue samples from 30 specimens of P. commersonnii and 22 specimens of M. cephalus obtained from Swartkops and Sundays River Estuaries respectively were analysed for OCPs using GC-mu ECD, and their risk assessments were performed using the standard protocol described by the US EPA. These species were targeted due to their relative abundance in their respective estuaries. Our findings indicate that from all the fish samples analysed only two samples of P. commersonnii did not contain the target analytes. The risk assessment showed that the hazard ratios (HRs) for cancer risk for all OCPs in muscles of both fish species were less than unity. Thus, this indicates that the daily exposure to the targeted OCPs based on the consumption of these fish species do not have a lifetime cancer risk. The HR values for non-cancer risk were all less than 1.