Body burdens of heavy metals in fish from the St. Clair River AOC: 2002/3 vs. 2014

Session: Poster session

Jim Sherry, Environment Canada, [email protected]
Gerald Tetreault, Environment and Climate Change Canada, [email protected]
Mark McMaster, Environment and Climate Change Canada, [email protected]
Annette Muttray, Consultant, [email protected]
Derek Muir, Environment & Climate Change Canada, [email protected]

Abstract

The St. Clair River which connects Lake Huron (LH) to Lake St. Clair flows through a heavily industrialized valley known locally as “Sarnia’s Chemical Valley”. In late Fall 2002/3, we sampled adult shorthead redhorse sucker (RHS) and yellow perch from a site within the river’s industrial zone (Stag Island (SI)), from a downstream site (Chenal Ecarte (CE)), and from Lake Huron (LH), our reference. We repeated the collections in 2014 with the addition of emerald shiner (ES).  The fish were analysed for heavy metals by ICP- mass spectrometry and for stable isotope ratios of carbon (?¹³C) and nitrogen (?¹⁵N) by isotope ratio-MS. We used a multi-factor ANOVA to explore trends across sites and time. Over the 12-year period, the body burdens of many heavy metals either declined in RHS at the river sites or did not change significantly (?=0.05).  Concentrations of vanadium and tin declined >7-fold in RHS from SI.  Burdens of several metals such as mercury and vanadium increased from LH through to CE in 2014.  Abundances of ?¹³C differed in ES at the three sites. ?¹³C abundances did not change in the RHS over the 12-year period, unlike ?¹⁵N abundance which declined in the RHS from LH (p<0.05).

1. Keyword
metals

2. Keyword
St. Clair River

3. Keyword
fish

4. Additional Keyword
temporal