XII Congresso Brasileiro de Ecotoxicologia
25 a 28 de setembro de 2012
Porto de Galinhas – PE
ARE TBT SOURCES MIGRATING FROM HARBORS TO MARINAS IN LATIN
AMERICA?
Ítalo Braga Castro1; César Augusto Paz-Villarraga2; Patricia Miloslavich2; Gilberto Fillmann1
1
2
[email protected] & [email protected] (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande)
[email protected] & [email protected] (Universidad Simon Bolivar)
Tributyltin (TBT) is a very toxic compound that was used as antifouling paints biocide during four decades.
Due to its environmental toxicity the International Maritime Organization banned TBT-based antifouling
paints in September 2008. Thereafter, TBT environmental concentrations as well as imposex levels (the most
widely used TBT biomarker) declined in several coastal areas worldwide. However, in Latin America some
recent observations have shown high TBT and imposex levels in areas close to marinas, despite the general
reducing pattern in many areas. The present study reported imposex parameters (VDSI and RPLI) in
gastropods from Venezuela and Brazil in harbor areas and marinas. In Venezuela, samples with 30 adults of
Purpura patula were collected in 23 sites (2 located inside marinas). In Brazil, Stramonita haemastoma was
collected in 11 sites located in Fortaleza city (CE) (1 located inside a marina and other in front to local yacht
club). The results for Venezuela showed that the VDSI ranged from 0.22 to 1.86 in areas under the influence
of harbors and 3.77 and 4.56 in marinas. Similarly, RPLI ranged from 0.07 to 5.58 in the harbor areas and
49.36 and 54.56 in marinas. In the Brazilian study, the highest VDSI and RPLI values detected in the sites
under the influence of harbors were 0.92 and 10.9, respectively. However, in the areas under the influence of
leisure boats (marina and yacht club) VDSI and RPLI reached 4.22 and 97.00, respectively. Thus, although
the international restrictions on TBT use are apparently reducing the impacts from harbors, these two
independent studies at Venezuela and Brazil clearly pointed out that marinas are becoming an important
source of TBT pollution. Based on that, a similar pattern is expected to occur in other Latin America coastal
areas.
Keywords: imposex, marina, leisure boats
Sociedade Brasileira de Ecotoxicologia (SBE)
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)
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