Monitoring of PAHs and alkylated PAHs in aquatic organisms after 1 month from the Solar I oil spill off the coast of Guimaras Island, Philippines

Abstract

Following the oil spill accident of the Solar I tanker in 2006 off the coast of Guimaras Island in the Philippines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and alkylated PAHs in some aquatic organisms were investigated at Luzaran in Guimaras and Taklong Islands, which were heavily polluted with spilled oil, immediately and 1 month after the accident. The concentrations of total PAHs were 11.9-52.3 ng/g dry weight in fish. Meanwhile, total PAH concentrations in shellfish were 38.0-3,102 ng/g dry weight in Luzaran and 128-236 ng/g dry weight in Taklong. Pyrene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene were dominant in most fish and chrysene in all shellfish. Significantly higher concentrations of all alkylated homologs were detected in shellfish than in fish. These differences had two possible causes, that is, the differences between fish and shellfish could be attributed to the uptake routes and/or their metabolizing abilities.