Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative (C-MERC)

Background

Despite the significant connection between the bioaccumulation of mercury in marine food webs and dietary consumption of fish by humans, many important uncertainties and gaps exist in our understanding of the sources of methylmercury in marine systems and the pathways to human exposure. The Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative (C-MERC), sponsored by the Dartmouth College Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, is working to address these important questions. Guided by a steering committee and support staff, C-MERC has convened a team of scientists and stakeholders to work together over a two-year period to gather and analyze data to publish papers which will elucidate key processes related to the inputs, cycling and uptake of mercury in marine ecosystems. The salient findings from this initiative will be translated and distributed to public health and policy stakeholders.

The Collaborative is modeled after workshops held in 2006 by Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, which focused on identifying research and monitoring needs for mercury in marine ecosystems and which resulted in several publications, including a special volume of EcoHealth devoted to methylmercury and in Environmental Health Perspectives.

C-Merc Objectives:

1) To develop a network of scientists who study the distribution and controls of mercury in water, sediment, and the food web (including humans) in marine systems.

2) To facilitate communication between stakeholders and scientists about the important mercury questions relevant to environmental health policy.

3) To provide a forum for mercury scientists to communicate their results with other investigators and facilitate the exchange of information between environmental geochemists, biologists, ecotoxicologists, and epidemiologists.

4) To identify key questions about mercury in marine systems and exposure to humans via seafood consumption to facilitate the analysis of existing data to address those questions.

5) To identify a series of proposed manuscripts and applicable data sets addressing key questions, which will provide the foundation for publication of a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Workshops and Papers

Two inter-related, invitational workshops (the first of which was held in Portsmouth, NH September 8-10, 2010 and the next in Halifax NS on July 23, 2011) allow researchers and policy makers to gather and synthesize knowledge about mercury in marine systems, focusing on seven ocean systems and a range of emerging global mercury topics. These meetings are working, roll-up-the-sleeves sessions, not research seminars. Scientists involved with mercury deposition, biogeochemical cycling, trophic transfer, ecotoxicology, and human health related research are connecting with policy stakeholders from EPA, NOAA, FDA, industry and NGOs to examine the implications for human exposure, public health and related issues pertaining to national and global mercury policy.

Several C-MERC papers will be included as part of a special session during the 10th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant.