Multiple contaminant ecological risk evaluation in small craft harbour sediments in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Small craft harbours are vital for the fishing industry and have high socioeconomic and cultural importance for surrounding communities. Presence of potential contaminants of concern in small craft harbour sediments can have significant impacts in biota and humans, including fishing activities and the local economy. While single contaminant sediment concentrations may be below sediment quality guidelines, the interaction of multiple contaminants in sediments may potentially exacerbate chemical ecological risk. An ecological risk evaluation for four classes of contaminants (i.e., petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals) was conducted in 31 small craft harbours in Nova Scotia, Canada, using two approaches (i.e., mean probable effect level quotient and number and frequency of sediment quality guideline exceedances). Most small craft harbours showed a low ecological risk to marine biota, with only two small craft harbours suggesting high risk. While urgent action is not needed, monitoring is recommended for these small craft harbours to confirm that pollution is not increasing, and to potentially identify and control contamination sources.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.