Contamination and Biomethylation of Organotin Compounds in Pearl/Fish Culture Areas in Japan

Abstract

Uwakai of Japan is famous for pearl and yellowtail fish culture. Recently, pearl culture farming in that region has suffered from a low production of pearls. An illegal use of organotin antifouling paints on fishing nets was reported. In the line of pollution studies, thus, the present investigation was carried out to examine the contamination status and fate of organotin compounds. Totally, 23 water, 10 sediment and 8 pearl oyster tissue samples were analyzed for tributyltin (TBT), triphenyltin (TPT), and their breakdown products (di-and mono compounds) by gas chromatography combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (GC/ICP-MS). The results show that the TBT concentrations in water, sediment and biota were in the range from 0.11 to 10.6 ng Sn l -1 , 0.35 to 2500 ng Sn g -1 , and 50.4 to 181 ng Sn g -1 , respectively. The values for sediment and biota are expressed on the dry-weight basis. Triphenyltin in water, sediment and biota were in the range from 0.009 to 0.108 ng l -1 , non-detect to 12.7 ng g -1 , and non-detect to 6.83 ng g -1 , respectively. Although the TBT concentration in seawater is below the tentative assessment level of 10 ng l -1 set by the Japanese Environment Agency in 1992, it may cause endocrine disruption/other effects in aquatic organisms. Octyltin compounds (mono-, di-and trioctyltin) were also quantified in seawater and sediment. The detection of dibutyldimethyltin (DBDMT) and tributylmonomethyltin (TBMMT) in sediment (methylated butyltins comprised 2.8 -31% of total butyltins), and TBMMT in seawater suggested that biomethylation of anthropogenic tributyltins is a significant transformation pathway in the coastal environment.

Predicted concentrations of biocides from antifouling paints in Visakhapatnam Harbour

“…In USA, although there is a declining trend, TBT levels are still high around the ports (Valkirs et al, 2003;Venkatesan et al, 1998;Peachey, 2003). Very similar observations have been reported from Canada (Horiguchi et al, 2004), the UK (Harding et al, 1997;Morgan et al, 1998;Miller et al, 1999;Thomas et al, 2000Thomas et al, , 2001Galloway et al, 2004;Bray and Herbert, 1998;Harino et al, 2005), Spain, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Italy (Gó mez-Ariza et al, 2000Diez et al, 2002Diez et al, , 2005Hawkins et al, 2002;Birchenough et al, 2002;Minchin, 2003), Japan (Takeuchi et al, 2004;Murai et al, 2005;Ramaswamy and Tao, 2004;Harino et al, 2007), Australia and New Zealand (Gibson and Wilson, 2003;Burton et al, 2005;Smith, 1996) .…”

Distribution of butyltin compounds in Brazil’s southern and southeastern estuarine ecosystems: assessment of spatial scale and compartments

“…The association of BTs with fine grains (silt and clays) has been reported (Radke et al 2008;Ramaswamy et al 2004) and includes a discussion about the high reactive surface of these grains interacting with particulate and dissolved substances due to their double electrochemical layer and the sorption of cationic compounds. However, the complexity of mineralogical and organic matter compositions can affect the sorption differently .…”

“…In our study, according to Spearman's rank analysis, the SPM density in the investigated estuaries was moderately related with the presence of DBT (r = 0.36) and MBT (r = 0.55), and the quantification of these two degradation products in the SPM was also correlated (r = 0.50). In addition to transport from another estuarine points, the presence of MBT in the SPM in the Babitonga and Guaratuba Bays may be due to the higher interaction of this compound with the inorganic fraction of SPM (Bravo et al 2010), sorption through electrostatic interactions (Ramaswamy et al 2004), or even the input of this compound from other sources (Wang et al 2008). In Itapemirim (ITP), although the sediment is composed mostly of sand (99 %), which is not favorable for the sorption of BTs, the detection of TBT in the SPM may be explained by a labile interaction associated with a recent input.…”

Butyltin compounds in a sediment core from the old Tilbury basin, London, UK

“…As a result of their slow degradation, the possible presence of TBT residues in sediments needs to be taken into account when assessing sediment quality, and recent evaluations undertaken at Port Curtis, Australia, demonstrated that elevated concentrations of TBT in sediments and water may be of ecological concern due to uptake by biota (Jones et al, 2005). The chronic toxicity of TBT to biota and the relationship between toxicity and bioaccumulation has been identified as a tool for predicting the toxicity of contaminated sediments (Bartlett et al, 2004) and the availability of sediment bound TBT to biota, as demonstrated by uptake and effects, is supported by other studies (Midorikawa et al, 2004;Ramaswamy et al, 2004). Contamination with TBT may effect a range of organisms, and although effects on molluscs are well documented, corals have also been identified as being impacted by TBT (Smith et al, 2003) indicating that understanding the fate and behavior of residues of TBT is likely to be significant in protecting a wide range of ecosystems.…”