Chemical contamination in freshwater fish from the UK National Fish Tissue Archive, 2007-2025
https://doi.org/10.5285/86c928cf-c87c-4d99-a02b-cc10d8f34853
Download/Access
The data contains basic information and chemical analysis data about all the fish collected for the National Fish Tissue Archive between 2007 and 2025. - Basic data (species, weight, length and condition factor as well as sampling locations and dates) are available for more than 2,400 individuals
- Chemical analysis data (metals, PCBs, PBDEs and organochlorine pesticides, dry weight or lipid content) are included for 229 individuals (160 roach, 34 bleak and 35 eels, collected between 2007 and 2016). The analyses were done on subsets of the samples, thus not all parameters are available for all individuals.
For the National Fish Tissue Archive freshwater fish, have been collected annually from a number of English rivers since 2007. Up to the end of 2025 this comprised:
- 2,244 roach (Rutilus rutilus). Collection of roach is ongoing since 2007
- 188 common bleak (Alburnus alburnus). Only collected in 2007 and 2008
- 36 European eels (Anguilla Anguilla). Only collected in 2007
The samples are kept in long-term storage at -70 to -80°C and (sub)samples may be made available for collaborative research on request. Whether a request for physical material is granted is decided on merit on a case-by-case basis.
Most samples are intact whole fish, but about 10% have been divided into subsamples, usually after being homogenized by cryogrinding. Some of the subsamples were analysed for a number of chemical contaminants (see above) and those results are made available in the database. In most cases further subsamples are still available for future analysis.
The rivers from which the fish were collected are Thames, Anker, Glen, Bourne Eau (trib. of Glen), Nene, Kennet, Lee, Stort. While some rivers were only sampled once (Kennet, Bourne Eau, Glen), others were intended to be sampled annually, although this was not always possible due to external factors (e.g. excessively high or low flows, restrictions due to the Covid19 pandemic, equipment failures, insufficient roach numbers etc).
Funded by NERC as part of National Capability within the UKSCaPE project and its predecessors.
The project is ongoing, thus further data can be made available from the authors and an update will be published when appropriate.
Publication date: 2026-08-05
Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Spatial information
Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Temporal information
Temporal extent
2007-01-01 to 2025-12-31
Provenance & quality
The Environment Agency (EA) conduct fish population surveys from defined stretches of rivers every year, which is done by capturing fish by electrofishing and releasing them back into the river after species and size (length) have been recorded. Since 2007 a small number of roach (Rutilus Rutilus) (in the early years 2007/08 also some bleak (alburnus alburnus), eel (Anguilla Anguilla), and one dace (Leuciscus leuciscus)) from some of the EA fish population survey locations are given to UKCEH for long-term storage for the purpose of retrospective monitoring in the National Fish Tissue Archive. After capture the roach are euthanised with 2-phenoxy-ethanol, and their weight and length are recorded alongside the location and date of capture. They are then individually packaged in strong plastic bags and frozen on site in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen, before transferring to Ultra-low temperature freezers (-70 to -80°C) at UKCEH. For sites that are very close the recording of weight and length and freezing may be done in the laboratory instead.
The purpose of the sample storage is for retrospective monitoring. A number of analyses have already been carried out on a subset of the fish in the archive. In most cases this involved initial homogenisation by cryogrinding and analysis of subsamples of the ground frozen fish.
The database details which, if any, processing steps and analyses have been carried out on individual fish and more details about the analyses and methods are in the supporting information.
The purpose of the sample storage is for retrospective monitoring. A number of analyses have already been carried out on a subset of the fish in the archive. In most cases this involved initial homogenisation by cryogrinding and analysis of subsamples of the ground frozen fish.
The database details which, if any, processing steps and analyses have been carried out on individual fish and more details about the analyses and methods are in the supporting information.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset will be available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
Cite this dataset as:
Jürgens, M.D.; Chaemfa, C.; Crosse, J.; Hughes, D.; Johnson, A.C.; Jones, K.C.; Pereira, M.G.; Thacker, S.A. (2026). Chemical contamination in freshwater fish from the UK National Fish Tissue Archive, 2007-2025. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/86c928cf-c87c-4d99-a02b-cc10d8f34853
Correspondence/contact details
Jürgens, M.D.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
enquiries@ceh.ac.uk
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
Other contacts
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Rights holder
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
enquiries@ceh.ac.uk
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Additional metadata
Keywords
Alburnus alburnus , Anguilla anguilla , bleak , European eel , fish , freshwater pollution , metal , organochlorine compound , persistant organic pollutant , pesticide , Pollution , Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) , polybrominated flame retardants , POPs , retrospective monitoring , roach , Rutilus rutilus
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/R016429/1