Source apportionment of DDTs in maricultured fish: a modeling study in South China

Abstract

Fish is one of the most important nutrition sources for humanity. Contaminant exposure risk in fish farming will eventually deliver to the crowd through diet. China is the largest fish producing as well as exporting country, where mariculture plays an important role in fish production, especially in South China. Previous investigations indicated that a variety of compartments in farming areas of South China Sea were polluted by persistent organic pollutants, including DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and its derivatives, some of which is designated as DDTs. In the present study, Hailing Bay and Daya Bay of Guangdong Province, China, were selected as the study sites and DDTs as the target compounds. A fish enrichment model was developed to assess the relative contributions of various pathways to the mass loadings of DDTs in the fish. Average concentrations (and concentration ranges) of DDTs in various environmental compartments of Hailing Bay and Daya Bay were included in modeling and analysis. Modeling results indicated that fish food and seawater contributed approximately the same proportions for the DDTs in maricultured fish. Antifouling paint was supposed to be the primary source of water DDTs in mariculture zone of Hailing Bay and Daya Bay, which contributed 69 % of the total DDTs to the mariculture water. We suggest that in order to protect people from consuming highly contaminated maricuture zone fish, the most effective and feasible methods are using environment-friendly antifouling paint and applying less polluted fish food in the fish reproduction process.

Long-Term Variations of Biogenic Elements and Nutritional Status in Daya Bay, Northern South China Sea

“…The limitation conditions of the trophic structure of Daya Bay waters gradually changed from N limited at the end of the last century to P limited, and this trend could become more prominent in the future. [48] and pollution. The discharge of liquid waste during aquaculture leads to higher than normal levels of pollutants in adjacent waters, which has a significant impact on the ecological functions of water bodies.…”

Modeling the fate of p,p′-DDT in water and sediment of two typical estuarine bays in South China: Importance of fishing vessels' inputs

“…By comparison, our previous modeling study in Hailing Bay and Daya Bay found that DDTs tended to transport from sediment to water in the mariculture zone (Fang et al, 2016). Contaminated sediment contributed 6.5% (0e26%) and 7.3% (0e28%) to the loadings of DDTs in snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii) and saddletail snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus), respectively (Fang et al, 2016).…”

“…Our previous studies have accumulated abundant data in two estuarine bays, i.e., Daya Bay and Hailing Bay (Fig. 1), of South China (Fang et al, 2016;Guo et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2013;Yu et al, 2011a,b), which presented the possibility to evaluate the impacts of DDT released from antifouling paints with a comprehensive modeling study. Because of its dominance among all DDT components (including o,p 0 -and p,p 0 -DDT, DDE, and DDD) in antifouling paints, p,p 0 -DDT was selected as the target compound.…”

“…Contaminated sediment contributed 6.5% (0e26%) and 7.3% (0e28%) to the loadings of DDTs in snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii) and saddletail snapper (Lutjanus malabaricus), respectively (Fang et al, 2016). On the other hand, antifouling paint contributed 69% (0.3e96.7%) of the total loadings in Hailing Bay and Daya Bay water (Fang et al, 2016). Our field visits noticed that the mariculture zones in Hailing Bay and Daya Bay are mainly located in shallow waters, where fishing vessels frequently remain.…”

The impacts of suspended mariculture on coastal zones in China and the scope for Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture

“…The release of synthetic compounds has included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that have been linked to the operation of boats supporting aquaculture infrastructure (Klumpp et al 2002;Yu et al 2012). Various persistent halogenated compounds (PHCs), pesticides such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), and pharmaceuticals have originated in feed (Yu et al 2011b;Chen et al 2015;Fang, Bao and Zeng 2016). The release of pharmaceuticals from aquaculture in China has been reviewed previously and, in the context of coastal aquaculture, has included high levels of sulfonamides that can cause the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant genes (He et al 2016).…”