• Outreach & Education
• Scientific Research
• About BRI

• Research Centers
  • Center for Loon Conservation
    • New Report on Adirondack Loons
    • Adirondack Center For Loon Conservation
  • Center for Mercury Studies
    • Publications and Resources
    • Scientific Research
      • Mercury Connections
      • Mercury in Forest Songbirds Project
    • Policy Outreach
  • Center for Ecology and Conservation
    • Mid-Atlantic Baseline Studies Project
• Research Programs
  • Coastal Bird Program
  • Mammal Program
  • Marine Bird Program
  • Migratory Bird Program
  • Raptor Program
  • Tropical Program
  • Waterfowl Program
  • Wetlands Program
  • Wildlife & Renewable Energy Program
  • Wildlife Habitat Planning Program
  • Wildlife Health Assessment Program
• BRI Biostations
  • Arctic - Alaska
  • Temperate - Maine
  • Tropical - Belize
• Laboratory Capabilities

New Reports Highlight Studies on Global Mercury Contamination

Global Mercury Hotspots: New Evidence Reveals Mercury Contamination Regularly Exceeds Health Advisory Levels in Humans and Fish Worldwide

BRI and IPEN (International Persistent Organic Pollutants Elimination Network) are collaborating to conduct a global mercury study in response to strong public interest and governmental negotiation of a mercury treaty—the first global treaty on the environment in well over a decade by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The Global Fish and Community Mercury Monitoring Project is the first of its kind to identify, in one collaborative effort, global biological hotspots that represent elevated levels of mercury exposure that may pose serious threats to both ecosystem and human health. This report outlines the initial findings from 12 countries. The study is ongoing and will eventually encompass results from nearly 40 countries.

The partnership between IPEN and BRI provides a rare opportunity to compile new and standardized mercury concentrations on a global basis that reflect the potential impacts of mercury on human populations around the world.

Global Mercurcy Hotpots making news worldwide!

Mercury in the Global Environment: Patterns of Global Seafood Mercury Concentrations and their Relationship with Human Health

BRI has developed a Global Biotic Mercury Synthesis (GBMS) project, the first of its kind, that is a compilation and synthesis of existing fish/seafood mercury data collected from all over the world. From this synthesis, BRI researchers are able to determine the impact of mercury on a global scale in relation to wildlife and human health. The results gathered to date are presented in this new BRI report.

The report provides insight into the species of marine organisms with greatest concentrations of methylmercury, which could pose risks to people when consumed, especially sensitive populations and those that consume large quantities of high mercury seafood. The information in this report may contribute toward the development of national fish consumption advisories for mercury by providing robust datasets that can be used as a basis for seafood mercury concentrations at geographically relevant scales.

BRI’s GBMS study demonstrates the global nature of the challenges mercury poses and reinforces the action by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme to develop a global legally binding instrument on mercury.