The Paradox of an Unpolluted Coastal Site Facing a Chronically Contaminated Industrial Area

Cinzia Corinaldesi,Nicola Simoncini,Giulia Lucia,Silvia Bianchelli,Sara Canensi,Luigi Musco,Antonio Dell’Anno,Emanuela Fanelli,Marco Lo Martire,Cristina Gambi,Iacopo Bertocci,Stefano Varrella,Eugenio Rastelli

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.813887

Abstract

Present and past industrial activities in coastal areas have left us a legacy of contamination and habitat degradation with potential implications for human health. Here, we investigated a coastal marine area enclosed in a Site of National Interest (SNI) of the central-western Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea), where priority actions of environmental remediation are required by governmental laws due the high environmental and human risk, and that is off-limits to any human activity since 2002. In particular, our investigation was focused on an area located in front of a chemical industry dismissed more than 3 decades ago. We report that the concentrations of heavy-metal and organic contaminants in the investigated sediments were generally lower than those expected to induce detrimental biological effects. Meiofaunal abundance, biomass and community structure changed among stations, but regardless of the distance from the abandoned industrial plant. Taxa richness within the SNI did not change significantly compared to the controls and the lack of some taxa in the SNI transects was not due to the contamination of the SNI area. The results of this study suggest a natural recovery of the marine area over 2 decades of restrictions on human activities, including fishing and shipping bans. If the hypothesis of the natural recovery of this SNI will be further confirmed by other studies, the plans for the identification and monitoring of the most polluted areas in Italy should necessarily be redefined also in the light of the Water Framework, the Marine Strategy Framework and the Environmental Quality Standard Directives.

Highlights

Coastal zones represent key areas of interaction between ocean and land, and provide a wide range of ecosystem goods and services, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, climate regulation, food provision and recreational activities (Costanza et al, 1997; Barbier, 2012, 2017; Turner and Schaafsma, 2015)
Both for heavy metals and PAHs, the m-ERM-q values corresponded to low environmental risk levels, with the only exception provided by a station of the Site of National Interest (SNI) area, which was classified as at high risk
The results of this study reveal that the levels of organic and inorganic pollutants in the investigated sediments of the Falconara M.ma SNI are generally lower than those expected to be harmful for marine life

Summary

Introduction

Coastal zones represent key areas of interaction between ocean and land, and provide a wide range of ecosystem goods and services, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, climate regulation, food provision and recreational activities (Costanza et al, 1997; Barbier, 2012, 2017; Turner and Schaafsma, 2015). Marine sediments represent the final sink for all contaminants, which can have impacts on marine life at all levels, from prokaryotes to metazoans (Hay Mele et al, 2020; Tangherlini et al, 2020), and especially on those benthic organisms, such as meiofauna, which are directly exposed to contaminants in their habitat (Gambi et al, 2020a). Such effects can be exacerbated by multiple stressors, including climate change (Micheli et al, 2013; Bertocci et al, 2019; Corinaldesi et al, 2022)

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Conclusion