Investigation of Priority Chemical Pollutants and Biotoxins to Assess the State of the Marine Environment

The environmental state of the Black Sea raises concerns about pollution from anthropogenic activities, biogenic processes and climate change. Marine pollution causes adverse effects such as toxicity to aquatic organisms, loss of biodiversity and also a threat to human health. Assessing the state of the marine environment as a system requires that both the impact of abiotic and anthropogenic factors and the pressure exerted by marine organisms through their vital activity on the environment to be determined. The main objective of the project is to assess the state of the marine environment by analyzing the levels of priority chemical pollutants and biotoxins in marine organisms and waters. In accordance with the Bulgarian Marine Strategy, pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides, toxic elements and marine biotoxins in bioindicator organisms (various fish species, mussels and other marine organisms) will be monitored. A pilot study on determination of microplastics in the marine environment is also planned. Ecological methods developed in the accredited Laboratory for Marine Resources and Aquaculture of MU-Varna will be applied. The data from the analyzes will be used to assess the current state of the marine environment, the impact of anthropogenic activities and the food safety of marine organisms. The results will be compared with data from our own analyzes of the Marine Resources and Aquaculture Laboratory the temporal trends in pollutant levels to be tracked. The project activities will provide new scientific data on the actual levels of persistent organic pollutants, toxic elements, microparticles and biotoxins in the marine environment. Increasing knowledge about the state of the marine environment and the safety of marine organisms as food would contribute to supporting typical local production (mussel farms, commercial fishing, etc). This would promote the local blue economy and blue growth of the region.

Comments