Marine Environmental Research institute

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Research

MERI was founded in 1990 in response to mounting concerns about mass mortalities occurring among marine mammals and a possible contributing role of environmental chemicals in these events, Because the oceans are sinks and reservoirs for persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, marine mammals as apex predators accumulate high levels of these chemicals in their bodies over a long lifetime.

For two decades, MERI has documented levels and effects of hundreds of man-made chemicals in marine mammals along the North American Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The Pacific Seal Biomarker Study (1990-1998) examined exposure to organochlorines (PCBs, DDTs) and biomarkers of immune and endocrine effects in young Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) and northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris).

In 2000 MERI established the Center for Marine Studies in Blue Hill, Maine to expand its research and its operations in the Gulf of Maine and launched Seals As Sentinels: Assessing the Impacts of Toxic Contaminants in Northwest Atlantic Seals. This landmark research has generated the first extensive, region-wide body of contaminants data in a marine mammal sentinel, the Atlantic harbor seal (Phoca vitulina concolor), and has earned national and international recognition in the scientific and regulatory communities. The aim is to advance understanding of the possible role of toxic chemical stress in the recurring disease outbreaks that plague the population.

The program currently targets “novel” chemicals used in consumer products such as the brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). These contaminants are ubiquitous in the environment and are accumulating in tissues of marine mammals and marine fishes along the northwest Atlanic. In 2007, MERI received a Citation of Recognition from the the 123rd Maine State Legislature when its Seals As Sentinels research findings were used in the legislature’s decision to ban the widely used flame retardant, Deca-BDE, as of 2010.

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Landmark review of toxics in marine ecosystems influences international debates

MERI director Dr. Susan Shaw recently co-authored the first comprehensive review paper, “PBDEs in the Marine Ecosystems of the American Continents: Foresight from Current Knowledge,” tracing the movement of flame retardant chemicals from land to sea in North America. Published in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health 24 (2009), it has quickly gained attention acoss the US, Europe, China, and Japan.

MERI Research Fuels Policy on Toxic Flame Retardants

MERI’s finding of toxic flame retardant chemicals (PBDEs) in tissues of harbor seals and commercially important coastal marine fishes (hake, herring, flounder, mackerel) along the US Atlantic coast has fueled policy in Maine and nation-wide. This independent research won awards for being the first to detect the widespread ecosystem contamination by toxic chemicals used in foam furniture, baby products, computers, and electronics. Although phased out of use in late 2009, huge reservoirs of PBDEs are migrating from consumer products in homes and landfills and ultimately make their way to the sea. To read the report click here.

NEW Study Tracks Toxic BFR Replacement Chemicals in Marine Food Web

MERI is requesting pinniped tissues from the NMFS Northeast Region Stranding Network for a new research initiative, Emerging Contaminants in the Northwest Atlantic Marine Food Web, that we are conducting as part of the long-term Seals As Sentinels project. We invite all Northeast Region Stranding Network members to participate in this region-wide study, beginning with sample collection during the spring-summer stranding season 2010. Click here for details.

Dr. Susan Shaw to head second Explorers Club Ocean Forum in December

Marine scientists agree that the world’s oceans are in crisis. To bring the ocean crisis to world attention, MERI Director Dr. Susan Shaw is chairing a series of State of the Ocean Forums at the Explorers Club. In March, 2009, distinguished panelists including Drs. Shaw, Sylvia Earle, Nancy Knowlton, David Gallo, and David Guggenheim delivered a powerful message about the ocean decline and called Explorers to action. For more, see MERI's Homepage.

MERI Center for Marine Studies

55 Main Street
PO Box 1652
Blue Hill, ME 04614
Tel: 207-374-2135
Fax: 207-374-2931
info@meriresearch.org