Thank you Admiral Watkins and commission members for allowing me this opportunity to draw your attention to two recent reports of the National Academies that address what are arguably two of the most significant challenges to coastal and marine environmental quality: oil pollution and nutrient pollution. A decade ago public concerns about marine pollution were driven by the dramatic footage fro...

Environmental pollution is a growing concern and, more importantly, pollution of the aquatic ecosystem is alarming. Bivalves are commonly used as bio-indicators of marine pollution. In the present study the Perna viridis was exposed to cadmium, copper, lead and zinc concentrations under longterm chronic toxicity for the estimation of biochemical biomarkers. Significant differences in TBARS leve...

Dispersants are a preapproved chemical response agent for oil spills off portions of the U.S. coastline, including the Texas-Louisiana coast. However, questions persist regarding potential environmental risks of dispersant applications in nearshore regions (within three nautical miles of the shoreline) that support dense populations of marine organisms and are prone to spills resulting from hum...

Rocky shores provide a harsh environment for marine organisms and we briefly discuss natural sources of variation in community structure before considering anthropogenic impacts in detail. We review impacts caused by (a) acute disturbances: oil spills, toxic algal blooms and (b) chronic disturbances: nutrient pollution, oil, heavy metals, pesticides, antifouling paints, collecting, trampling/ha...

The recent Diplomatic Conference held (1-5 October 2001) by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London adopted the Draft Convention prepared by The Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) of IMO for the "Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems for Ships." The convention has been developed to immediately ban the use of Tributyltin (TBT) globally in anti-fouling paints to "p...

Histological assessment of the effects of environmental pollutants on marine organisms includes consideration of trends which develop that may link a closely related group of compounds to a representative tissue or organ response. Definition of such a relationship could benefit adjudication of water pollution controversies and, thus, the enforcement of public water pollution laws. Evidence base...

Major oil spills can have long-term impacts since oil pollution does not only result in acute mortality of marine organisms, but also affects productivity levels, predator-prey dynamics, and damages habitats that support marine communities. However, despite the conservation implications of oil accidents, the monitoring and assessment of its lasting impacts still remains a difficult and daunting...

Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) imaging system is used to monitor the marine system. Oil spill pollution plays a significant role in damaging marine ecosystem. One main advantages of SAR is that it can generate imagery under all weather conditions. In a SAR image dark spots can be generated by number of phenomena. The dark spots may be of algae, low wind areas, coastal areas and oil spills. The ...

The aim of this study was to determine pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals in seawater and sediment in Kostrena coastal area, as well as their toxicity using bioluminescence based tests. Total PAH concentration in seawater ranged 1.7-155.3 ng/L. The share of carcinogenetic PAH was relatively high, ranging 22-48.3%. Nickel concentrations in seawater were beyond d...