Mercury Contamination of Minamata Bay: Historical Overview and Progress Towards Recovery

The contamination of Minamata Bay with mercury compounds and the subsequent effects of this contamination on humans and animals who ate seafood from the bay have been described repeatedly elsewhere, but there are few publications which have focused on the physicochemical aspects of the situation and the nature and effectiveness of the work undertaken to restore the bay. This chapter briefly reviews the available English language literature on these subjects and is intended to allow for easier comparison with other similar sites which have not progressed as far in restoration work. Minamata Bay was severely contaminated with mercury from acetaldehyde and vinyl chloride plants between 1950 and 1968. While the predominant form of mercury discharged to the bay was inorganic, some may have been methylated and the origin of highly elevated concentrations in seafood. Somewhat lower but still unacceptably elevated levels of mercury in seafood persisted even after use of mercury at the plants was discontinued. Sediment contamination was mapped in detail in the early 1970s and led to a major dredging and containment project, which began in 1980, to restore the bay. All restoration was completed by 1990. Limited available data from monitoring of mercury in commercially important fish species appear to demonstrate a successful restoration.

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