Interactions of climate, socio-economics, and global mercury pollution in the North Water

Abstract

Despite the remoteness of the North Water, Northwest Greenland, the local Inughuit population is affected by global anthropogenic pollution and climate change. Using a cross-disciplinary approach combining Mercury (Hg) analysis, catch information, and historical and anthropological perspectives, this article elucidates how the traditional diet is compromised by Hg pollution originating from lower latitudes. In a new approach we here show how the Inughuits in Avanersuaq are subject to high Hg exposure from the hunted traditional food, consisting of mainly marine seabirds and mammals. Violation of the provisional tolerably yearly intake of Hg, on average by a factor of 11 (range 7–15) over the last 20 years as well as the provisional tolerably monthly intake by a factor of 6 (range 2–16), raises health concerns. The surplus of Selenium (Se) in wildlife tissues including narwhals showed Se:Hg molar ratios of 1.5, 2.3, and 16.7 in muscle, liver, and mattak, respectively, likely to provide some protection against the high Hg exposure.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1033-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Thule as Frontier

“…While previous contacts with outsiders, be they newcomers, colonialists, scholars, Danes, or representatives from the Greenlandic board of natural resources, were for all to see, the present, invisible contact zone surpasses them all in terms of its ominous implications. The accumulating contamination in marine mammals on the higher trophic levels is reaching frightful levels, undermining both the health and the trust of the people in Thule (Dietz et al 2018). It is no longer possible to yearn for a 'true' hunting life, localized in the dreamland of Thule, without tempering it by recommendations not to eat too much of it.…”

Introducing the North Water: Histories of exploration, ice dynamics, living resources, and human settlement in the Thule Region

“…The large prolonged phytoplankton production sets the baseline for the reproductive success of the herbivorous copepods (Ringuette et al 2002 ). These large Arctic herbivorous copepods ( Calanus hyperboreus and Calanus glacialis ) build lipid deposits during summer and are key species at the bottom of the marine food chain, while the pelagic amphipod Themisto libellula and polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ) are their key predators next in the food chain and lay the foundation for the food web sustaining the large marine mammal populations so characteristic for the NOW and so important for the hunters (Hobson et al 2002 ; Tremblay et al 2006 ; Heide-Jørgensen et al 2013a , b , 2016 ; Dietz et al 2018 for an overview of the hunting bag). The copepods also serve as a primary food source for little auks ( Alle alle ) (Karnovsky and Hunt 2002 ; Karnovsky et al 2008 ).…”

“…We are now long past any vision of a pristine condition, let alone a clean environment. Not only is the biotic community in the North Water changing in response to the global warming, it is also subject to increasing contamination from mercury and new persistent organic pollutants, deriving from distant sources and resulting in severe health concerns among people in the Thule region (Dietz et al 2018 ).…”

Seismic surveys and the Greenland regulation

“…Monitoring programs and eco-system based management should be applied to adapt to and mitigate these changes. (Piniarneq 2016) and average Hg loads in muscle tissue from published and unpublished contaminant studies in Greenland (see Dietz et al 2018 for further information).…”