HALL ET AL.: MERCURY IN SABLEFISH 



mercury (0.02-0.11, x 0.04 ppm). The data for the 

 specimens from these two areas were combined 

 since the samples were relatively few in number, 

 and there was no evidence of any significant 

 differences based on area (Table 1). 



A much better weight distribution is seen in the 

 120 fish from southeast Alaska (Table 2). The fish 

 taken from several locations around Baranof and 

 Chichagof islands (45 specimens) contained a 

 significantly lower mean level of mercury (0.19 

 ppm) than did the 75 fish taken from the Behm 

 Canal area (0.34 ppm). The only fish (5% of the total 

 sample) from southeast Alaska that exceeded 0.50 

 ppm mercury were caught off Betton Island, which 

 is in the north arm of Behm Canal. This would 

 indicate a higher level of mercury contamination 

 in the inland waters than in the offshore waters 

 around the outer islands. 



Analyses of 121 fish from Washington showed 

 that 23% (28 fish) of the sample exceeded the action 

 level (Table 2). The fish taken from the northern 

 coast off Neah Bay and those taken from the 

 southern coast off Long Beach showed little 

 difference in mercury content. 



Of the 174 fish from Oregon, 51 or 29% exceeded 

 the action level (Table 2), which is an increase over 

 that observed in previously discussed areas. A 

 significant part of the total sample (39%) consisted 

 of fish weighing less than 3 pounds (1.4 kg) and of 

 these small fish we observed an increase in the 

 percentage that exceeded 0.50 ppm mercury. 



The sampling from northern California (Table 

 3) consisted of 98 fish of which 62% (61 fish) 

 weighed less than 3 pounds (1.4 kg) and contained 

 low levels of mercury. Only one of these small fish 

 exceeded 0.50 ppm mercury. Of the remaining 37 

 larger fish, the mercury level of 20 fish exceeded 

 0.50 ppm. The mean mercury level of the total lot 

 of 98 fish was 0.26 ppm, and 21 fish or 21% exceeded 

 the action level. Considering that this lot repre- 

 sented an atypical weight distribution, it seems 

 likely that both the mean and the percentage of 

 fish exceeding the action level would be higher in a 

 sampling where the number of fish are more 

 uniformly distributed over the weight range. 



The 30 fish collected in central California were 

 well distributed over the weight range (Table 3) 

 and 43% of these fish exceeded the action level. 



Analytical data on 119 fish from the southern 

 California area showed that 72% (86 fish) exceeded 

 the action level (Table 3). Of this group, 47% 

 weighed less than 3 pounds (1.4 kg). Here, as in 

 Oregon, we saw that smaller fish contained high 

 levels of mercury in comparison to other areas. The 

 weight range of the fish from southern California 

 was small (from 0.5 to 5.5 pounds [0.2-2.5 kg]), but 

 the mercury levels were higher than were ob- 

 served in any other area. 



Effect of Size of Fish 



The observations on mercury levels and size of 



Table 2.-Mercury concentration in heads-oflF eviscerated sablefish from southeast Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. 



793 



