Temporal Trends and Spatial Distributions of Brominated Flame Retardants in Archived Fishes from the Great Lakes

To explore the geographical distribution and temporal
trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the
Great Lakes, lake trout from Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron,
and Ontario and walleye from Lake Erie, collected during
the period of 1980−2000, were analyzed. The concentrations
of fifteen PBDE congeners and one polybrominated
biphenyl (PBB-153) were determined in each fish sample.
Lake trout from Lakes Michigan and Ontario had the
highest ∑PBDE concentrations during the years investigated.
The ∑PBDE concentrations in fishes from the five lakes
increased exponentially with time, doubling every 3−4 years.
The relative proportion of BDEs-47, -99, and -100 compared
to BDEs-153 and -154 increased significantly as a function
of time. Over the period 1980−2000, the concentrations of PBB-153, which was a component of a flame retardant
banned in the 1970s, generally remained the same in
these Great Lakes fishes, except for lake trout from Lake
Huron, where the PBB-153 concentrations decreased
significantly, but slowly.