Fact Sheet 110-97


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Haag, K.H., and McPherson, B.F., 1997, Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in southern Florida fishes: Then and now: USGS Fact Sheet 110-97, 4 p.

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of pesticides and other organic compounds in southern Florida has been the focus of environmental studies for at least 25 years. Pesticides and polychlorinated biphyenyls (PCBs) have a potentially toxic effect on the reproductive systems of aquatic invertebrates, fishes, birds, and mammals.

Pesticides have been used in agricultural and urban areas in southern Florida for more than 50 years; since the late 1960’s, PCBs have been detected in Everglades fish. Several agencies are monitoring and documenting pesticide occurrence in water, bed sediment, and animal tissue. This report compares concentrations of pesticides and PCBs in fishes collected in 1995 in southern Florida to concentrations measured in fishes collected in the 1970’s when environmental data on these contaminants first became available.


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