94 
5.4.2.3 Interpretation of PCA concentrations 
PC A concentrations reported so far world-wide and summarised in Table 27 are 
hardly comparable due to the following reasons: 
• Different quantification procedures 
• Concentrations only expressed on lipid or wet weight basis 
• Analysis of different tissues and species. 
The concentrations of this study listed in Table 26 are within the same range. Since data 
from other PCA monitoring programmes are very scarce and due to the reasons given 
above, no further comparison can be carried out. The findings of the investigation 
presented here can be summarised as follows: 
• s+mPCA levels in fish liver from the North and Baltic Sea showed no species- 
specific concentration dependence. 
• s+mPCA concentration ranges were comparable for the North Sea (54-3880 
ng/g lw, mean 985 ng/g lw) and the Baltic Sea (90-3170 ng/g lw, mean 615 ng/g 
lw). 
• The highest s+mPCA levels were far above 1 ppm, which is remarkable. 
• s+mPCA levels in cod liver from remote areas (Lofot Islands/Iceland) were consi 
derably lower (46-265 ng/g lw, mean 149 ng/g lw) than in cod from the North and 
Baltic Sea (range 62-3170 ng/g lw, mean 622 ng/g lw). 
• Muscle tissue from Arctic char (200-2500 ng/g lw, meanl005 ng/g lw) from the 
background site Bear Island has comparable levels as cod liver from the North 
and Baltic Sea. Similar concentrations were also reported for PCB and DDT- 
compounds and toxaphenes (see Evenseth et al., 2004; Evenseth el al., 2005 and 
Table 28). Main reasons for such an exposure are long range transport and 
condensation effects, a high precipitation rate around the sampling site Lake 
Ellasjpen and the breeding sites of thousands of sea birds close by resulting in an 
input via guano (Evenseth et al., 2004).