Mercury transport and human exposure from global marine fisheries.

ABSTRACT: Human activities have increased the global circulation of mercury, a potent neurotoxin. Mercury can be converted into methylmercury, which biomagnifies along aquatic food chains and leads to high exposure in fish-eating populations. Here we quantify temporal trends in the ocean-to-land transport of total mercury and methylmercury from fisheries and we estimate potential human mercury intake through fish consumption in 175 countries. Mercury export from the ocean increased over time as a function of fishing pressure, especially on upper-trophic-level organisms. In 2014, over 13 metric tonnes of mercury were exported from the ocean. Asian countries were important contributors of mercury export in the last decades and the western Pacific Ocean was identified as the main source. Estimates of p

SUBMITTER: Lavoie RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5928114 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature