The deep-sea as a final global sink of semivolatile persistent organic pollutants? Part II: organochlorine pesticides in surface and deep-sea dwelling fish of the North and South Atlantic and the Monterey Bay Canyon (California)

The understanding of the global environmental multiphase distribution of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as a result of the physico-chemical properties of the respective compounds is well established. We have analysed the results of a vertical transport of POPs from surface water to deepwater in terms of the contamination of the biota living in the respective environmental compartments. Samples were taken from the North and the South Atlantic and from the uprising water region of the continental shelf of California (Marine Sanctuary Monterey Bay and its Canyon). The contents of persistent organochlorine pesticides (DDTs, chlordanes, toxaphenes, HCHs, and HCB) in surface-living fish are compared to those in deepwater fish of the same geographic area. The deepwater biota show significantly higher burdens as compared to surface-living species of the same region. There are also indications for recycling processes of POPs of the class of organochlorine pesticides in the biophase of the abyss as well. It can be concluded that the bio- and geophase of the deep-sea may act as an ultimate global sink for persistent semivolatile contaminants in the marine environment like the soil on the continents. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.