BRI and the Antigua and Barbuda-based Department of Analytical Services (DAS) are collaborating to determine the level of mercury found in fish, birds, human hair, and the air in Antigua and Barbuda. In late April a team headed by Dr. Linroy Christian, Director of Analytical Services in Antigua and Barbuda, and members of the Forestry Division and the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) learned how to measure mercury levels in bird species in the country’s most populated birding sites.

David Evers, the Executive Director, and Chief Scientist at the Biodiversity Research Institute in Maine, explained that the idea is to collect data that can possibly affect policy and management change. “Here in Antigua, you’re not doing anything wrong, but there’s mercury coming in from the air, it’s being deposited on your landscape, not just in Antigua but around the Caribbean, around the world,” he said. “So, we want to know how much is on the birds, and the fish and the people in Antigua, and there’s some management policy decisions that can be made thereafter.”

A write-up of the mercury training and research process was featured in the Antigua Observer. Click here to read the full article.