Application of a polychlorinated biphenyls bioaccumulation model to Lake Ontario lake trout

The total body burden of specific Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in Lake Ontario lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) was studied with a bioenergetics-based pollutant accumulation model. Concentrations for PCB-congeners 101 and 153, which when combined account for approximately 16% of total PCB burden in Lake Ontario fish species, were analyzed with respect to trout age and weight. Age-class dependencies for diet composition and energy densities of prey and consumer were incorporated in the analysis. Parameters obtained from independent metabolic and fish growth studies were further refined, using recent data in the fields of pollutant kinetics, bioenergetics and freshwater fish production. Sensitivity analyses indicated a general robustness of the model, with metabolic and growth related parameters found to be most critical. The model was fitted to Lake Ontario water and fish pollutant concentrations data. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach, and confirmed the significance of the acclaimed food-chain route of exposure.