Organohalogen concentrations and a gross and histologic ...

Introduction
Study area and sampling method
Samples from more than 100 polar bears were taken between 69˚00’N and
74˚00’N, 19˚00’W and 24˚00’W by local subsistence hunters during 1999-2002
(Fig. 1, 2). It was not possible for scientific personnel to join the hunters
along their routes, as these usually have a length of weeks or months during
which usually only 1-2 bears are obtained. If scientist based sampling had
been chosen, the sampling would have lasted for decades and become extremely
expensive. Therefore, hunters were ”educated” in taking the samples
through local meetings, instruction videos and on a 5-week-long hunt in
the spring of 2000, where they were accompanied by a veterinarian. During
that hunt the sample quality was assured and sampling problems discussed
with the local Inuits.
Figure 1
Midnight field sampling by local Inuits at Turner Island, Central East Greenland in April 2000. Left: necropsies are taken out. Right:
Blood samples are preserved (Photo: S. Andersen, Foxtrot).
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