The levels of Hg, Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu and Zn were measured in the tissues of four edible fish species namely: Diplodus annularis, Pagellus erythrinus, Merluccius merluccius and Mullus barbatus, collected from the Turkish Coast of the Aegean Sea. Except for D. annularis, the levels of Cd and Pb in all fish tissues sampled in Aliaga Bay in 2009 were above the tolerable limits according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Hg in P. erythrinus and M. barbatus were higher than the maximum permitted limits (FAO), while D. annularis and M. merluccius were lower than the limit for biota in the district of Aliaga. Although the Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) values for Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Zn in all fish samples were lower than 1.0, the THQ for Hg levels were higher than 1.0 for most of the samples. According to the THQ values, M. merluccius may be consumed in moderation from Aliaga Bay, while the consumption of M. barbatus and P. erythrinus collected from Aliaga Bay are potentially hazardous to human health due to the Hg concentrations. Fish collected from Izmir Bay can be consumed safely.

The aim of the present study is to optimize the slow release biostimulant ball (BSB) for bioremediation of contaminated coastal sediment using response surface methodology (RSM). Metals contamination and stabilization of metals in coastal sediments using BSB were investigated. The effects of BSB size (1–5cm), distance (1–10cm), and time (1–4months) on the stabilization of metals including Fe, Cd, Cu, and Pb were determined. The maximum stabilization percentages of Fe, Cd, Cu, and Pb, of 64.5%, 54.9%, 63.8%, and 47.6%, respectively, were observed at a 3cm ball size, 5.5cm distance, and a period of 4months; these values are the optimum conditions for effective treatment of contaminated coastal sediment. The determination coefficient of the R2 value suggests that >91.55%, 89.97%, 96.10%, and 86.40% of the variance is attributable to the variables of Fe, Cd, Cu, and Pb, respectively.

The Critically Endangered Taiwanese humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis taiwanensis) is endemic to inshore and estuarine waters of central western Taiwan. It numbers fewer than 75 individuals, is declining and faces a myriad of human threats. Data from a long-term photo-identification program on these dolphins allowed major injuries to be examined quantitatively. A large proportion (57.7%) of individuals had suffered major human-induced injuries that likely compromised their health, survivorship or reproductive potential and thus, the future of this subspecies. Considering major injuries as “takes”, the injury rate (1.13 dolphins/year) for the population was 8–8.5 times higher than its Potential Biological Removal rate. Observations of new injuries and fishing gear entanglements on several dolphins showed that fisheries continue to be the predominant cause of these major injuries. Unless immediate action is taken to reduce harmful fisheries, extinction is imminent for Taiwan's only endemic dolphin.

The time taken for spilt oil to appear firstly at the sea surface and its location are two key issues for emergency response. The underwater spread of oil spill in a shear flow was studied experimentally in a re-circulating water channel. The high speed imaging technology was employed to record the whole transport process of oil spilt from a leak of a submarine pipe to the surface. Based on the experimental results, three underwater transport types are identified, which are single droplet pattern (model A), linear chain pattern (model B) and oil plume pattern (model C), respectively. The pressure difference inside and outside of the leak determines the underwater transport pattern. For single droplet pattern, the transport of oil droplet has two successive stage, namely the accumulation stage and the buoyant droplet stage. When it comes to linear chain pattern, the first stage changes to be the initial jet stage. Besides the initial jet stage and the buoyant droplet stage, oil plume pattern has an intermediate transition stage, namely the plume development stage. During the whole floating process, the pressure difference dominates the initial stage, while droplet buoyancy is the driven force in the rest. The required time for oil droplets to reach the surface is increased with the decreasing of the initial momentum and the increasing of the shear flow velocity. In the buoyance dominated stage, the floating rate of oil droplets is basically unchanged and the horizontal migration rate is similar with the shear flow velocity. Both the break-up and coalescence of oil droplets have two forms, which are single droplet splitting and droplet-column separation for break-up form and turbulence merging and pursuit merging for coalescence form, respectively.

We bio-monitored the stress of oyster, Crassostrea gigas, for possible long term effects of thermal waste from a power plant. The expression level of its heat shock proteins (HSPs) was measured by real time-reverse transcript PCR along with their density and growth in the field. Oyster size varied in a distance dependent pattern. Physics modeling for evaluation of spreading of the thermal effluent revealed that station A is affected by the thermal effluents abundance, and the size of C. gigas showed a negative relationship with distance to the power plant. The abundance and size of C. gigas were smallest at station A, which was closest to the thermal effluent outlet. The kinetics of changes in the hsp70 and hsp90 mRNA levels in the mantle of C. gigas were also investigated. Regardless of the higher expression level of hsp70 mRNA than hsp90, both hsp70 and hsp90 mRNA levels were significantly higher at station A. The expression levels decreased inversely with distance from the thermal effluent outlet, with expression of hsp70 mRNA at station A being approximately 7-fold higher than at station B and 15-fold higher than at station C. Similarly, expression of hsp90 mRNA at station A was approximately 14-fold higher than at station B and 22-fold higher than at station C. The present findings provide new insights on biological correlation among the growth of individuals and population size and the molecular index in C. gigas following thermal effects.

This paper presents a high-resolution operational forecast system for providing support to oil spill response in Belfast Lough. The system comprises an operational oceanographic module coupled to an oil spill forecast module that is integrated in a user-friendly web application. The oceanographic module is based on Delft3D model which uses daily boundary conditions and meteorological forcing obtained from COPERNICUS and from the UK Meteorological Office. Downscaled currents and meteorological forecasts are used to provide short-term oil spill fate and trajectory predictions at local scales. Both components of the system are calibrated and validated with observational data, including ADCP data, sea level, temperature and salinity measurements and drifting buoys released in the study area. The transport model is calibrated using a novel methodology to obtain the model coefficients that optimize the numerical simulations. The results obtained show the good performance of the system and its capability for oil spill forecast.

A spatial risk assessment model is developed for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR, Australia) that helps identify reef locations at higher or lower risk of coral bleaching in summer heat-wave conditions. The model confirms the considerable benefit of discriminating nutrient-enriched areas that contain corals with enlarged (suboptimal) symbiont densities for the purpose of identifying bleaching-sensitive reef locations. The benefit of the new system-level understanding is showcased in terms of: (i) improving early-warning forecasts of summer bleaching risk, (ii) explaining historical bleaching patterns, (iii) testing the bleaching-resistant quality of the current marine protected area (MPA) network (iv) identifying routinely monitored coral health attributes, such as the tissue energy reserves and skeletal growth characteristics (viz. density and extension rates) that correlate with bleaching resistant reef locations, and (v) targeting region-specific water quality improvement strategies that may increase reef-scale coral health and bleaching resistance.

Shipping is recognized as a major vector for the global transfer of non-indigenous marine species (NIMS). As a major transshipment port, Singapore can minimize the risk of NIMS transfer by implementing pragmatic management strategies, such as using vessel movement information to assess the risk of NIMS transfer.Findings from vessel movement information in a major port terminal in Singapore showed that vessel residence time is short, with >92% of vessels spending seven days or less. There was little variation in vessel residence time to vessel arrival numbers, while the top three last ports of call were found to be from regional ports. Using two key features obtained from vessel movement records, 1) vessel residence time and 2) biogeographic origin of the vessels' last port of call, a simple risk assessment matrix was constructed and applied to assess the level of risk of NIMS transfer by transiting vessels.

We developed an inexpensive bottom water sampler that can be operated from a small boat in order to obtain high resolution vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen (DO), chlorophyll, suspended particulate matter (SPM). These vertical profiles allow us to examine bottom resuspension processes and to estimate their benthic fluxes of nutrients across the sediment–water interface in shallow coastal waters. The sampler consists of a 2m long thick-walled transparent tube with 26 sampling ports at 8–10cm intervals. Each sampling interval contains a minimum of 300–370ml water samples. Test sampling was conducted twice during different tidal phases, and differences in bottom DO, ammonium and SPM were found to be significant between the two tests. Our results suggest that this bottom sampler is essential in order to study sediment-pelagic coupling processes by obtaining high resolution of various parameters in the 2m water column above the sediment.

Marine seismic surveys produce high intensity, low-frequency impulsive sounds at regular intervals, with most sound produced between 10 and 300Hz. Offshore seismic surveys have long been considered to be disruptive to fisheries, but there are few ecological studies that target commercially important species, particularly invertebrates. This review aims to summarise scientific studies investigating the impacts of low-frequency sound on marine fish and invertebrates, as well as to critically evaluate how such studies may apply to field populations exposed to seismic operations. We focus on marine seismic surveys due to their associated unique sound properties (i.e. acute, low-frequency, mobile source locations), as well as fish and invertebrates due to the commercial value of many species in these groups. The main challenges of seismic impact research are the translation of laboratory results to field populations over a range of sound exposure scenarios and the lack of sound exposure standardisation which hinders the identification of response thresholds. An integrated multidisciplinary approach to manipulative and in situ studies is the most effective way to establish impact thresholds in the context of realistic exposure levels, but if that is not practical the limitations of each approach must be carefully considered.