Kagoshima bay has a highly active volcano in its center. In the filtered seawater and suspended matter collected from 200-m deep fumaroles at the bottom of the inner bay, the geometric mean concentrations of total mercury were 7.6 and 65.0 ng/L, respectively. The surface seawater collected at the inner bay had a higher concentration of mercury when compared to that in the bay entrance (average: 1.0 vs. 0.5 ng/L). In July, however, no such difference was observed. The fumaroles seem to contribute to relatively high concentrations of mercury in the inner bay except in summer, when thermal cline is formed.