"Evaluation of population-level ecological risks of fish-eating birds to dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) exposure in Tokyo Bay and its vicinity"

Wataru Naito¹, Mariko Murata²

¹National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
²National Institute of Technology and Evaluation

  Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Vol.3 No.1 pp. 68- 78 (2007/1) 

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Abstract

Population-level ecological risk assessments of dioxin-like PCBs on fish-eating birds in Tokyo Bay and its vicinity were performed to judge the need for risk-management measures to protect aquatic wildlife from dioxin-like PCB contamination in Japan. The results suggest that the current contamination levels of dioxin-like PCBs observed in the Tokyo Bay and its vicinity pose little risk to the fish-eating bird populations. Therefore, along with the decreasing trend for dioxin and dioxin-like PCB levels in the Tokyo Bay, there is at present no need for urgent risk-reduction measures for protecting fish-eating bird populations for dioxin-like PCBs in Japan. 

Keywords

integrated approach, ecological risk, population-level effects, dioxin-like PCBs, co-planar PCBs