ABSTRACT
The small island of Guadeloupe imports thousands of tons of various pesticides every year (Bonan and Prime 2001). Most of the pesticides used in agriculture and urban areas are leached and get into the aquatic environment. In the early 2000s, a signicant contamination of some drinking water resources was detected, at doses up to 100 times the “drinking water” standards. The three incriminated molecules were chlordecone (CLD) (the most worrying), the beta isomer of hexachlorocyclohexane, and dieldrin (Monti 2005, 2008, Coat et al. 2006). After the publication of these rst alarming results, the Direction Régionale de l’Environnement of Guadeloupe quickly sought to know the degree of contamination of species living in the rivers. The objective was to assess the level of contamination found in sh and crustaceans, which were highly consumed, to be able to quickly take the necessary administrative measures. The rst study evaluating the contamination in the rivers of the south of Basse-Terre revealed an extreme concentration of CLD in the muscle and viscera of the sampled species (Monti 2005). This inventory gradually continued, to the north of the windward coast (2006), rst, and then to the Leeward coast of Basse-Terre (2007). A general assessment all around the volcanic island was thus conducted and has been coupled, more recently, with an
7.1 The Context .................................................................................................... 91 7.2 Material and Methods .....................................................................................92
