Gladstone Fish Health Investigation 2011 - 2012 - Western Basin ...

Contaminants in Tissue of Fish and Crabs Collected in the Gladstone AreaNOED values for growth ranged from 2.5x10 -5 to 3.8 mg/kg (US Army Corp Engineers & USEPA,2011). The lowest concentrations reported for mortality were 1.37 x10 -4 mg/kg in juvenile brooktrout (Salvelinus fontinalis) a freshwater species (Hamilton, Mehrle and Jones 1987). That studyreported particularly low concentrations of cadmium in liver associated with mortality, whereas allother studies reported concentrations of cadmium in the liver where effects were measured at0.175 mg/kg wet weight or higher, higher than that found in the Gladstone Harbour residue study.Overall, the concentrations of cadmium measured during the 2012 study indicate that it is possiblethat the cadmium measured in the barramundi tissue could be having an effect. However, themajority of effects retrieved from ERED were much higher than the concentrations detected in thebarramundi collected from the Gladstone area, and therefore it was unlikely that the measuredconcentrations of cadmium in Gladstone Harbour were related to immune-suppression. Analysis ofthe cadmium concentrations in healthy and diseased fish indicated no significant associationbetween fish illness and cadmium concentrations in the liver.Table 13 – Summary of effects concentrations associated with cadmium concentrations in fish liverreported in the Environmental Residue and Effects Database (mg/kg wet weight).Effect classToxicitymeasureRange ofconcentrationswet weight(mg/kg) fromEREDRange ofconcentrationswet weight(mg/kg) atGladstone sitesRange ofconcentrationswet weight(mg/kg) atReference sitesGrowth NOED 2.5x10 -5 - 3.8 0.01 - 0.1