Linking the health of the Baltic Sea with the health of humans: Dioxin

Herring and salmon as fatty fish are healthy food, but they also contain harmful dioxins. Therefore, estimates of fish consumption and health benefits and risks are crucial in making rational policy about fish stocks and food recommendations. Dioxins enter the sea as air fallout from land-based sources and via waterways, and are spread all over the sea area. Dioxins are persistent and bio-accumulative, which means that the concentrations increase toward the top of the food chain. Emissions have decreased, but dioxin levels in salmon and Baltic herring are still high. The level of bioaccumulation in fish depends on food-web processes, as well as individual body growth of fish as dioxins are stored in fat tissue.

Featured imageFreeImages.com / Hobbes Yeo

Objectives

To resolve consequences of different scenarios of human consumption and fisheries management for bioaccumulation of dioxins in fish and consequences for human health

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