US EPA

2202248 

Technical Report 

Levels of chlorinated hydrocarbons in eggs of double-crested cormorants from 1971 to 1975 

Zitko, V 

1976 

PESTAB/77/0263 

Environ 

4 

399-405; 1976 

PESTAB. Eggs collected from nests of double-crested cormorants on Whitehorse Island in the Bay of Fundy were boiled and stored frozen until analysis by gas chromatography for organochlorine compounds. Arithemtic-mean HCB levels were practically constant at 0.016 mug/g wet weight in 1973-1975; PCBs declined from 14.3 mug/g in 1971 to 5.2-5.5 mug/g in 1973-75; p,p'-DDE dropped from 9.70 mug/g in 1971 to about 2 ppm in 1974-1975. Dieldrin values of 0.297 mug/g were recoreded in 1972, 0.117 mug/g in 1973, 0.041 mug/g in 1974, and 0.156 mug/g in 1975. Average levels of p,p'-DDT were 0.113, 0.053, 0.202, and 0.068 mug/g in 1972-1975, and p,p'-DDT levels were 0.167, 0.073, 0.023, and 0.075 mug/g in the same years. Mirex was analyzed by performing a single determination on a combined extract, and values of 0.058, 0.059, and 0.113 mug/g were found for 1973, 1974, and 1975.