Survey on heavy metals in shrimp habitats of Hormozgan Province

Heavy metals are among the pollutants found in urban and industrial wastewater. Various industries, such as the metal, oil and petrochemical activities are among the main sources of heavy metals discharging into the marine environment. Hormozgan province, especially Bandar Abbas City, showed significant growth in chemical industry and high urbanization rates in recent years, which could have a significant potential for heavy metals entering the coastal ecosystem. The present study aims to monitor the concentration of heavy metals (including Fe, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni, Co) in sediments collected from East and West of Hormozgan province and assessing the status of pollutants by comparison with regional and international standards. In this research, shrimp habitats were selected on the basis of Tib, Yekshabeh, Laft and Khamir. In order to investigate heavy metals in shrimp habitats of Hormozgan province, the study was conducted seasonally from autumn 1394 to summer of 1395. Copper, Nickel, and Cobalt metals were measured by flame atomic absorption and other metals using a furnace atomic absorption device. The results of Iron measurement in sediments of sampling stations showed that maximum concentration was 1.576 mg/kg in winter at Tiab estuary, while in summer this amount was related to Khamir estuary and reached to 1.578 mg/kg. In both summer and winter, copper had the highest amount of copper in the Tiab estuary with amount of 0.377 mg / g and 0.358 mg / g, respectively. The maximum observed concentration of Nickel in Tiab estuary is 0.114 mg / kg in summer. This amount was 0.069 mg / kg for cadmium in winter in Tiab estuary sediments. Lead and Cobalt metal exhibited their maximum concentration at the same time and place with0. 403 mg / kg and 0.247 mg / kg, respectively. In general, based on the findings of this study, the average concentration of heavy metals in the surface sediments from Hormozgan estuaries was recorded as Fe> Pb> Cu> Co> Ni> Ca. The assessment of the environmental quality of the sediments for all heavy metals showed that the measured values were lower than the guidelines and none of the metals was evaluated at poluuting level. In order to protect mangrove ecosystem and control the amount of heavy metal pollution, periodic monitoring of these metals in sediments of the study area is recommended.

Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute

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