Strengthening Coastal Pollution Management in the Wider Caribbean Region

Control of aquatic pollution is critical for improving coastal zone management and for the conservation of fisheries resources. Countries in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) generally lack monitoring capacity and do not have reliable information on the levels and distribution of pollutants, particularly chemical contaminants, and the ecological and/or human health risks. Given the substantial cultural and economic importance of coastal environments to WCR communities, this should be cause for serious concern. This paper describes two studies determining persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in 1) the white grunt fish (Haemulon plumieri) and 2) three oyster species. It highlights lessons learned on improving capacity for environmental monitoring of POPs and how to build an effective south-south network involving academic institutions, laboratories and management agencies. Data are reported for Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, and the Caribbean coast of Mexico. Overall, PCB and organochlorine concentrations were low relative to consumption guidelines used to protect the health of humans consuming contaminated seafood. However, since both monitoring organisms occupy low to mid-trophic levels in the marine food web, there is a risk of higher contaminant concentrations accumulating in top trophic levels, such as piscivorous fish and birds. Identified sources of contaminants include domestic sewage, agriculture and industry, large continental rivers and atmospheric deposition. For example, data indicate that atmospheric deposition is a likely source of POPs in Belize, while there is evidence of point sources of POPs in St. Lucia. Currently, these are the only data available on POPs contamination in fish and oysters distributed across the WCR, but will hopefully lead to future studies, increased awareness and strengthening of coastal pollution managemen

The book: its printers, illustrators, and binders, from Gutenberg to the present time /

"The art of describing and cataloging incunabula (p. [322]-351) is a translation of Die incunabel-bibliographie, von A. Einsle, Wien, 1888.First English translation by E. C. Bigmore, 1887, has title: The printed book; its history, illustration and adornment.Mode of access: Internet

Inter-laboratory calibration of estimated oil equivalent (EOE) concentrations of a water accommodated fraction (WAF) of oil and a chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF)

Chemical characterization of the presence of oil in environmental samples are performed using methods of varying complexity. Extraction of samples with an organic solvent and analysis by fluorescence spectrometry has been shown to be a rapid and effective screening technique for petroleum in the environment. During experiments, rapid analysis of oil by fluorescence provides the opportunity for researchers to modify the experimental conditions in real time. Estimated Oil Equivalents (EOE) relies on the fluorescence measurement of the aromatic compounds to estimate the oil concentration.The present intercalibration study was designed to investigate whether different fluorometer instruments can reliably measure EOE and whether the results are intercomparable. Additionally, the need for extraction of oil compounds into an organic solvent was investigated. Three different fluorometers were used in three different laboratories: a Horiba Aqualog, a Turner Trilogy and a Shimadzu Spectrofluorophotometer RF-1501. Results from these different instruments showed excellent agreement for EOE determinations. A very high correlation was found between the EOE results obtained with Aqualog Horiba and Turner Trilogy (r2 = 0.9999), with no significant differences between the mean EOE results (t-test, p = 0.30), and the Aqualog Horiba and Shimadzu (r2 = 0.995) fluorometers, with no statistically difference between the EOE results obtained by the two instruments (p = 0.40)