The endangered St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) beluga population is in decline despite multiple protection measures and exposure to organohalogen contaminants have been proposed as an explanation for its lack of recovery. Elevated levels of halogenated flame retardants (HFR) were indeed observed in SLE beluga tissues during the 1990s. The objective of this dataset was to investigate the occurrence of HFRs (35 PBDE congeners and 13 emerging compounds) in the blubber of belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) from the St. Lawrence as well as belugas from Nunavik where the species is targeted by Inuit subsistence hunt.
Methods of sample and data collection were detailed in Simond et al. (2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.03.058). In summary, tissue samples (blubber and skin) from the St. Lawrence region were collected on fresh beluga and minke whale carcasses stranded ashore. Tissue samples from Nunavik region were collected on beluga carcasses landed during Inuit subsistence hunt. The age of belugas was determined according to Stewart et al. (2006). Sample extraction and clean-up and HFR concentration measurements were conducted following Houde et al. (2014). HFR concentrations are reported in ng/g lipid weight.
This dataset contains sex and age, body length, percentage of extractable lipids, an index of carcass freshness, d13C and d15N measured in skin (lipid-extracted and bulk samples, respectively), and the concentration of polybrominated and emerging flame retardants measured in blubber. The sample consists of 51 male belugas and 12 minke whales (2 males, 6 females, 4 unknown) from the St. Lawrence and 6 male belugas from Nunavik. Sample collection spans from 1997 to 2014.
Quality control procedures included analyses of procedural method blanks, duplicate blubber samples and standard reference materials (SRM; NIST 1945 Whale Blubber) for each batch of ten samples.
The contact for the main co-authors of Simond et al. (2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.03.058) are included in the file "Authors_contact_auteurs.pdf"