Table 1.
Number of localities sampled, number of samples and average mercury level of water, bottom sediment, Piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus) and Aimara (Hoplias aimara) for various areas in Suriname; also US EPA Standard for Drinking Water, US EPA Standard for freshwater chronic exposure (US EPA 1994), US EPA Wildlife Criterion for surface water, Canadian standard for sediment (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, 1999), and European standard for human consumption of piscivorous fish (EC 2002)
| Area | Number of localities | Water | Bottom sediment | Serrasalmus rhombeus | Hoplias aimara | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Average Hg (μg L−1) | n | Average Hg (μg g−1) | n | Average size (cm) | Average Hg (μg g−1) | n | Average size (cm) | Average Hg (μg g−1) | ||
| Gold mining (GMA) | 9 | 40 | 0.07 ± 0.09 | 69 | 0.22 ± 0.09 | 30 | 25.6 | 0.42 ± 0.20 | 58 | 52.8 | 0.46 ± 0.23 |
| Brokopondo Reservoir (BR) | 6 | 12 | 0.38 ± 0.37 | 17 | 0.21 ± 0.06 | 36 | 29.2 | 1.38 ± 0.59 | 16 | 49.7 | 0.43 ± 0.29 |
| Downstream gold mining (DGMA) | 9 | 35 | 0.06 ± 0.06 | 50 | 0.13 ± 0.08 | 9 | 24.2 | 0.23 ± 0.13 | |||
| Upstream gold mining (UGMA) | 4 | 12 | 0.11 ± 0.09 | 18 | 0.20 ± 0.05 | 30 | 15.4 | 0.25 ± 0.21 | 35 | 47.5 | 0.43 ± 0.24 |
| Upper Coppename Basin (PWS) | 5 | 6 | 0.10 ± 0.07 | 8 | 0.20 ± 0.06 | 25 | 33.8 | 0.86 ± 0.42 | 13 | 53.3 | 0.66 ± 0.29 |
| Western Suriname (WSW) | 11 | 6 | 0.10 ± 0.15 | 6 | 0.14 ± 0.05 | 20 | 30.2 | 0.75 ± 0.44 | 24 | 50.7 | 0.65 ± 0.17 |
| Northwestern Suriname (NW) | 6 | 6 | 0.38 ± 0.50 | 12 | 0.07 ± 0.03 | ||||||
| Predicted low level (PLS) | 3 | 22 | 0.04 ± 0.02 | 42 | 0.21 ± 0.05 | 30 | 31.4 | 0.51 ± 0.19 | 4 | 70.0 | 0.74 ± 0.25 |
| International standards | 0.2 | ||||||||||
| 0.012 | 0.17 | 0.50 | 0.50 | ||||||||
| 0.00091 | |||||||||||