PM06 Linking Aquatic Toxicology with Ecosystem Indicators
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Monday, 10 November 2003
(PM123) Prenormative research for the implementation of seawater quality criteria for metals in a shellfish production area: the Galician Rias (NW Spain).
Beiras, R.1, Albentosa, M.2, Fernández, N.1, Saco-Álvarez, L.1, Pérez, P.1, Lorenzo, J. I.1, Mariño-Balsa, J. C.1, Bellas, J.1, 1 University of Vigo, Vigo, Galicia, Spain2 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
ABSTRACT- The Galician Rias, in the Atlantic coast of Spain, host an intense coastal fishing and shellfish exploitation of high economic relevance (the first European producer of farmed shellfish due to mussel culture). The Rias are also densely populated areas impacted by tourism and urban development, and to a lesser extent, industry (ship yards, paper mill, canning factories). These conflicting uses of the coast have prompted environmental legislation pioneer at Spanish level aiming at the protection of the water quality by means of water quality criteria. However these criteria lack a biological basis. We present the results of ecotoxicological research with embryos and larvae of key taxa from the Rias, showing that effective Cu and Zn concentrations lie within the range or even below the proposed Cu and Zn criteria, indicating that those values do not offer protection for certain important species, such as the sea-urchin Paracentrotus lividus, the marine mussel Mytilus edulis, and the clam Ruditapes decussatus. The prenormative studies also involved species from other ecologically relevant taxonomic groups such as crustaceans, polychaetes and phytoplankton, in order to take into account potential selective toxicity on certain taxa.
Key words: shellfish, Seawater quality criteria, Metals, Toxicity