Assessment of heavy metal concentration in edible fish muscle and water sample collected from different location in Chittagong: a public health concern

Abstract

Introduction. The research was carried out to investigate the concentration of heavy metals in fish and water samples collected from different locations of Chittagong District, Bangladesh. Materials and methods. The concentrations of heavy metals including Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Fe in sea water and marine fishes (pama croaker, bombay duck and rat-tail anchovy) were detected by using Air / Acetylene Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer along Chittagong City areas, Bangladesh. Results and discussion. The mean concentration of heavy metals were found in water in the range as Cr 0.0138-0.0789 mg/L, Cu 0.0014-0.0284 mg/L, Ni 0.0259-0.2519 mg/L, Pb 0.0109-0.1596 mg/L and Fe 0.2176-1.787 mg/L. The analysis of water samples showed that the distribution of heavy metals in the order of magnitude as Fe > Ni > Pb > Cr > Cu. The variation might be due to location, level of contamination in water through industrial effluents and anthropogenic activities. While the mean concentration of heavy metals were found in all fish samples in the range as Cr 3.2039-16.3495 mg/Kg dry wt., Cu 1.5589-4.5848 mg/Kg dry wt., Ni 0.1101-1.9029 mg/Kg dry wt., Pb 0.4373-2.7638 mg/Kg dry wt. and Fe 30.9599-108.780 mg/Kg dry wt. The distribution of heavy metals in fish samples analyzed were in the order of magnitude as Fe > Cr> Cu> Pb> Ni. The analysis showed that magnitudes of heavy metal were more or less similar with other researchers. The variation might be due to metal accumulation in fish and various fish species living in the same water body but different level of contamination in water. Among all samples, 17% fish samples had excess amount of Cr whereas acceptable limit is 15.0 mg/kg for fish. Mean concentrations of Pb in all fish samples were 17% below detection level, 33% optimum and 33% higher than the maximum permitted concentrations (1.5 mg/Kg). Fe in all fish samples were 33% below, 17% optimum and 50% higher than the maximum permitted concentrations (43 mg/Kg) recommended by FAO/WHO. Conclusions. Most of the fish species studied are safe to be consumed. Therefore, this study is proposed to draw the attention of health and environmental authorities in need for appropriate regulatory framework.

Heavy Metal Concentrations and Human Health Risk Assessment of Selected Wild and Cultured Fishes of Bangladesh

“…(Jezierska and Witeska 2006). The result from the comparison with other reported values showed that the degree of contamination in fishes of the study area was found lower from Buriganga and Turag river (Baki et al 2019 andAhmad et al 2016), Bay of Bengal (Jothi et al 2018) of the country while higher from the Dhaleshwari river (Ahsan et al 2018). The heavy metal concentrations in fishes from Kelanta river, Malaysia (Hashim et al 2014), Bay of Bengal, India (Mitra et al 2011, river Niger, Nigeria (Ujah et al 2017) were also higher than the present study.…”

Assessment of Arsenic (As), Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) Accumulation in Different Organs of Commercially Important Fish Species Collected from Chattogram Coastal Region of Bangladesh.

“…The Chattogram coastal water might be highly polluted with arsenic. It could be associated to effluent discharges from a major industrial and siderurgic plant near the sea and to agro-industrial activities, mainly run off from agricultural soils where fertilizers are used and other waste [14].…”

“…In many studies, fishes were the subject of investigation on metal accumulations and monitoring programs in seas or fresh water, due to their importance in human nutrition [12,13,14]. Such interest aimed at ensuring the safety to the food supply and minimizing the potential hazard effect on human health.…”

“…As a commercial hub and the industrial nerve center of Bangladesh, Chattogram coastline of Bay of Bengal is at risk of having high levels of metal pollutants due to surrounding activities. According to studies [14,17], many kinds of industries are situated on Chattogram coast, each discharging its characteristic range of effluents containing metals and other harmful pollutants into the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There are some studies on the pollution level of metals in water and sediments along the Karnafuli River and its adjacent coastal area [18,19] but information on the types of metal in the Bay of Bengal coast including fish, other ecosystems, coastal areas, and rivers is poorly documented.…”