Chapter 5 - Heavy Metal Levels in Fish, Molluscs, and Crustacea From Turkish Seas and Potential Risk of Human Health

Abstract

The European Parliament published in the field of Marine Environment Policy Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), ecological quality and integrity in estuarine, the marine and coastal ecosystems, has been developed to conserve and restore. MSFD is based on the principle of ecosystem-based management prescinds all pressures of the seas and deals to the sea regionally. The purpose of the directive in the European Union (EU) by 2020 is to provide good environmental status of the seas (GES). Turkey is a country of which four sides are surrounded by seas with various features. Therefore, efficient prediction of the environmental changes in the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea is needed to identify, analyze, and determine the cost of solutions for better marine environmental management and sustainable development of the resources. The coastline of Turkey is 8333km, and the distribution of the coastline according to seas surrounding Turkey is: the Black Sea 1719km, Sea of Marmara 1474km, Aegean Sea 3265km, and the Mediterranean 2025km. The Black Sea is unique in the world, a semiclosed sea connected to the small Sea of Marmara by the narrow Bosporus Strait; Strait of Dardanelles further connects to the Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas. For this reason, there is very little natural circulation. Self-cleaning ability remains limited. The presence of the Turkish Straits is considered a waterway of strategic and economic importance. These straits are the busiest waterways in terms of transportation and in particular are vulnerable for the seawater mainly being polluted by oil spills from ships. Other major pollution sources in the straits are shipping activities, ship accidents, marine traffic, and overfishing. Sea of Marmara is also an inland sea within the Marmara region, described as “biological corridor” for many migrating species between the Black Sea and the Agean Sea. The Aegean Sea is a part of the Mediterranean between the mainlands of Turkey and Greece and contains thousands of islands, isles, and rocks. Overfishing, ship-originated pollution, exotic species, and by-catch are the main threats in this sea. The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea located between Europe, Africa, and Asia. The seawater of the Mediterranean Sea is threatened by habitat degradation generally due to human activities, such as fisheries and coastal development. As a result of pollution, Seas of Turkey ecosystem has been subject to extreme changes in recent years. One of the important pollutants are due to the heavy metals toxic property of natural concentrations, which negatively affect the ecosystem when they take on the biological activities of the organisms that make up the food chain, the balance between biota and the environment corruption, and they adversely affect the people at the top of the food chain.