Heavy metals in oyster tissue around three coastal marinas.

Abstract

The past decade has presented an unprecedented period of growth and development along the coastline of South Carolina. The majority of this development has been to serve the recreation and tourism industry and, as such, has included the construction of numerous recreational marinas in the coastal waters of the State. Various plans have been presented for the siting of marinas in pristine estuarine waters. This has raised much concern due to the possible impacts of such development on the plentiful oyster resource found in those waters. Marinas present the potential for the introduction of pollutants such as heavy metals into the surrounding waters. This investigation was conducted by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) during 1983, and yielded a multifaceted data base composed of physiocochemical and bacteriological analyses from water, chemical analyses from sediment and chemical/bacteriological physiological analyses from the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). C. virginica was chosen as the organism of interest due to its wide distribution in the estuaries of South Carolina, its importance as an economic and recreational resource and its suitability as a sentinel organism for monitoring coastal pollution.