Polychlorinated biphenyls in blue crabs from South Carolina.

Abstract

Blue crabs are important members of the estuarine food web due to their numbers and their multiple roles as scavengers, predators and prey. Because of their omnivorous feeding characteristics, wide distribution an close association with bottom sediments, the potential exists for blue crabs to bioaccumulate pollutants residing in those sediments as has been shown for fiddler crabs. It follows that human health risk upon consumption of such crabs and biomagnification through the food web become primary concerns. During the spring of 1985, commercial crab fishermen in Beaufort County, South Carolina contacted the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department (SCWMRD) concerning their perceptions of significantly declining catch rates in the Campbell Creek-Whale Branch area. Using knowledge of previously documented elevated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) levels in the sediments of the upper portion of Campbell Creek, the SCWMRD initiated analysis of crab tissue from the area to ascertain the body burdens of PCBs. Initial screening results indicated potentially significant levels of PCBs in blue crabs at which time, SCWMRD contacted the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) for more intensive study and definition of the situation. The work reported here was conducted between June and October 1985.