Mercury in the global environment: Understanding spatial patterns for biomonitoring needs of the Minamata convention on mercury

This report, Mercury in the Global Environment, presents data on mercury concentrations in biota of concern in Article 19 of the Minamata Convention (i.e., marine and freshwater fish, sea turtles, birds and marine mammals), which are extracted from the GBMS database. Mercury concentrations from key biota are presented and compared geographically and taxonomically through Case Studies.
Data for this report have been compiled from 1,095 different references, representing 119 countries, 2,781 unique locations, and 11,466 averaged mercury samples from 375,677 total individual organisms. Together, these data can help raise awareness of potential risks and benefits of consuming key food items and thereafter help inform resource managers and decision makers about the species and places in which mercury represents a potential risk to human health, which can be partly based on harvest data by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO; Figure 12).
The GBMS database also represents a valuable tool for: (1) integrating mercury science into important policy decisions related to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (see page 2); (2) use by existing networks such as the Arctic Monitoring Assessment Programme
(AMAP); and (3) protecting human health and the environment from the risks of mercury exposure (UN Environment 2013a).