Evaluation of Environmental Quality of Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons Using Persistent Organic Pollutants and Metals in Thick-Lipped Grey Mullet

Abstract

The evaluation of past and present anthropogenic impacts affecting the ecological quality status of transitional ecosystems is crucial from the perspective of protecting them from further deterioration, and to evaluate remediation and restoration measures. Contamination patterns of thick-lipped grey mullet from two Mediterranean coastal lagoons within a protected area in Italy were assessed and compared in order to evaluate their overall quality status and to collect information that can provide useful feedback on management choices aimed at enhancing environmental quality and biodiversity conservation. The quality status of the two lagoons was evaluated by an environmental assessment methodology based on indicators of direct and indirect human pressures, while a broad range of analyses were carried out to determine the presence and concentration of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals in fish muscle tissue. A good quality status resulted for both lagoons, and an overall limited anthropogenic impact in the surrounding area. This could account for POPs and metal contamination levels found in mullet, although limited, and relating to their patterns. The overlap of results achieved with the two evaluation approaches can provide support for management choices in Mediterranean lagoon environments, especially for those committed to the protection and conservation of biodiversity.

Potentially Toxic Elements in Water, Sediments and Fish from the Karstic River (Raša River, Croatia) Located in the Former Coal-Mining Area

“…Regardless of the differences between species and indications of rare spatial differences, the overall element levels in the muscle tissues of six fish species from the Raša River were comparable to or lower than the reported data for low-contaminated freshwater systems [ 9 , 19 , 27 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 74 , 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 ,…”

Evaluation of Pathogenic Microorganisms Isolated from Grey Mullets (Mugilidae) Valamugil seheli Muscles Cultivated in Khawr Al-Mukalla Sea Waters, Hadhramaut, Yemen

“…The presence of E. coli in fish muscle was a good indicator of human beingsʼ contaminations and this was supported by others [44][45][46] . The number of S. aureus in 1 gram of Valamugil seheli muscles during the year seasons was in the range 1.0-3.3 log CFU gG 1 . This finding was comparable to other reports [47][48][49] .…”

“…seheli : The results of bacterial types in V. seheli showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the bacterial total count, total coliform, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus except for Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella sp. These result showed that the highest value of total bacterial count was in summer (4.3 log CFU gG 1 ), whereas the lowest value was achieved in winter (3.18 log CFU gG 1 ). The result of total coliform showed that the highest value was found in summer (188 MPN), whereas the lowest value was achieved in winter (21.2 MPN).…”

“…Grey mullets (Mugilidae) fish are economically significant in most areas of the ecosphere. They are also cultured in many regions of the world in both extensive and intensive systems 1 .…”

Fish Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Stressors in Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons: A Comparative Study of the Role of Different Management Strategies

“…The recent boost due to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive helped to bring attention to these tools, but there is still a limited number of applications for fish fauna in transitional waters, in particular with only few examples available for coastal lagoons [10]. In order to analyze the sensitivity to human impacts, quantitative assessments of the anthropogenic pressures acting on transitional ecosystems have been carried out [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Different methodologies for the assessment of the ecological status of transitional waters have been developed for the Atlantic region [25,26], but most methods that have been proposed for the Mediterranean were not focused on small coastal lakes [20,27,28].…”