Effect of the Iraq – Kuwait War on the Living Environment and Fisheries Resources of the Northern Parts of the Persian Gulf.

The adverse environmental impacts as the result of oil spill from Kuwait' wells during the Iraq-Kuwait war in 1991 on the ecosystem and fisheries resources of the northern part of the Persian Gulf was investigated during the years 2001-2002. The investigated area included the whole stretch of the Iranian domain of the Persian Gulf from northwest waters of the Khuzestan province to northeast waters of Hormuzgan province. Sampling was conducted seasonally in 45 main and 26 secondary stations along 15 transect. Various physicochemical parameters including temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen, nutrients and chlorophyll-a as well as biological parameters such as plankton, benthos and demersal fishes were taken into sampling considerations. In addition, polluting agents as petroleum hydrocarbons and oiloriginated heavy metals as Ni, V, Pb and Cd in water, sediment and fish tissue in summer and winter seasons were also taken into sampling considerations. All the obtained data were compared with the ones obtained from similar works preceding the war or early periods after the Gulf War. Results indicated so significant reduction in fish diversity as well as density of commercial fish larvae that only 29 ichthyoplanktonic families could be recorded after the war including the present investigation as compared with 55 families recorded before the war. The results of zooplankton assessment indicated the dominance of nutritionally less valuable cyclopoids among the copepods in the present investigation, whereas calanoids that ecologically occupy a more important position in marine food chains were dominating the copepods in investigations conducted before the war. Distribution pattern of hopane (C29-C35) - as a petroleum compound indicator- in sediment and demersal fish tissues was similar to that found in the Kuwait' crude oil samples. The highest concentrations of TPH & PAH were recorded in the sediment samples from Khuzestan coasts (the closest Iranian province to the Gulf war zone)their concentrations showed a decreasing trend eastward as distanced from Khuzestan. The concentration of Cd, Pb and Ni in the sediment samples was also found to be considerably higher than the global baseline value. Nearly in all cases the heavy metal concentrations in the sediments were considerably greater than RSA and ERL guidelines. These results, above all, indicated the presence of Kuwait-originated crude oil in the sediments and, then, the detected Kuwait oil had been spilled as the result of the Gulf war. From the overall results, it can be concluded that the ecosystem of the Persian Gulf has been experiencing a long-term adverse environmental impacts as the result of severe oil pollution caused by the Gulf war, and the bottom and the adjoining layer have been most impacted of all marine habitats of the studied area.