Kaoruko Mizukawa, Hideshige Takada, Maki Ito, Yeo Bee Geok, Junki 
Hosoda, Rei Yamashita, Mahua Saha, Satoru Suzuki, Carlos Miguez, João 
Frias, Joana Cepeda Antunes, Paula Sobral, Isabelina Santos, Cristina 
Micaelo, Ana Maria Ferreira, Monitoring of a wide range of organic 
micropollutants on the Portuguese coast using plastic resin pellets, 
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 70, Issues 1–2, 15 May 2013, Pages 
296-302, ISSN 0025-326X, 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.02.008.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X13000647)
Abstract: We analyzed polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl 
dichloroethane and its metabolites, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), 
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and hopanes, in plastic resin 
pellets collected from nine locations along the Portuguese coast. 
Concentrations of a sum of 13 PCBs were one order of magnitude higher in 
two major cities (Porto: 307 ng/g-pellet; Lisboa: 273 ng/g-pellet) than 
in the seven rural sites. Lower chlorinated congeners were more abundant 
in the rural sites than in the cities, suggesting atmospheric 
dispersion. At most of the locations, PAH concentrations (sum of 33 PAH 
species) were ∼100 to ∼300 ng/g-pellet; however, three orders of 
magnitude higher concentrations of PAHs, with a petrogenic signature, 
were detected at a small city (Sines). Hopanes were detected in the 
pellets at all locations. This study demonstrated that multiple sample 
locations, including locations in both urban and remote areas, are 
necessary for country-scale pellet watch.