Acronym Baseline cod
Category
Fisheries
Title Baseline study of heavy metals and POPs in fillet and liver of cod (Gadus morhua) Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Kåre Julshamn Coordinator email kju@nifes.no; kaare.julshamn@nifes.no
Coordinator institution
NIFES - National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year NA End year NA Funding (€) € NA Website NA Summary Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is distributed in the North Atlantic Ocean and consists of several different stocks. In addition to the Northeast Arctic cod in the Barents Sea which is the largest cod stock in the world, North Sea cod and Norwegian fjord and coastal cod stocks are important for the European and Norwegian fisheries. A total of I bit over 2000 cod from these three stocks were sampled between 2009 and 2011. Sampling was undertaken by research vessels from the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen. Fillet samples were analysed for metals since cod fillet are so low in fat only few muscle samples were analysed for POPs. However, cod liver samples were analysed also for both POPs and metals. Cod liver is in itself a food product and the raw material for cod liver oil. In cod muscle, the levels of all undesirable substances determined in this study were quite low, giving no reason for concern for food safety. The concentrations of Cd and Pb were below the limit of quantification for most samples, and only three (out of 2007) fish had concentrations of Hg above the EU maximum level of 0.5 mg/kg w.w. In cod liver, the levels of POPs were quite high. 42% of the individual fish had concentrations of the sum PCDD/Fs+dl-PCB in liver above the EU maximum level of 20 ng TE/kg w.w., and 20% of the individual fish had concentrations of PCB6 in liver above the EU maximum level of 200 µg/kg w.w. The mean concentrations of POPs in liver were higher in the North Sea than in the Barents Sea, and the highest mean concentrations of POPs were found in cod from the coastal areas of Norway. Within the coastal areas, the mean concentrations of POPs were higher in the southern part than in the northern part of Norway. Based on these and other data there is dietary advice against cod liver in certain areas, while cod liver oil is refined before researching the market. As, Cd, Hg, Pb, dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs, non-dioxin like PCBs and PBDE were determined in fillets of 2200 fish sampled in the North SEa, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. No fillet samples showed concentrations of any determined contaminants higher than the EU maximum level, whereas more than 30 % of the livers had concentrations of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs higher than 20 ng TEQ/kg wet weight (EU maximum level).
Keywords
Impacts;
Fish;
Toxic substances;
Cod;
Food safety;
Marine Region
42
Barents Sea (27.I)
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
3
Marine Region Map
