On the presence of humpback whales in the Persian Gulf: rare or rarely documented? Report of the IWC Scientific Committee Meeting SC/67A/CMP/14, Bled, Slovenia, May 2017

We critically review the evidence for humpback whale presence in the Persian Gulf. Five specimen records, assumed to belong to the endangered Arabian Sea population, are confirmed in the period 1883- 2017: Bassore Bay, Iraq; Doha, Qatar; Kuwait Inner harbour, Kuwait; Qeshm Island, Iran; and Akhtar, Bushehr Province, Iran. The two Iranian cases, both juveniles, are newly recorded. With accumulating reports, an alternate hypothesis to 'rare stragglers' deserves consideration, one in which Arabian Sea humpback whales may enter the Persian Gulf with some regularity, perhaps as normal visitors, if not permanent residents. Deficiency of records may reflect a general sparsity of whale research effort in the Persian Gulf. The historical description of Megaptera indica Gervais, 1883 is translated from French

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Street Dust of Bushehr City, Iran: Status, Source, and Human Health Risk Assessment

<p>This study identified concentrations, molecular distributions, toxicities, and sources of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in street dust from different land use of Bushehr city in southwest of Iran. For this purpose, 19 street dust samples were collected from different land use of the city and analyzed using GC–MS. Σ16PAHs (16 USEPA priority PAHs) concentrations ranged between 73.6 and 9491 µg kg⁻¹, with a mean of 1116.02 µg kg⁻¹. The high-molecular-weight (HMW) PAHs (4–6 rings), that make 65.22% of the total, were the dominant in almost all dust samples. In the northern part of the city, the concentration of PAHs especially HMW is high, reflecting high traffic density. PAH sources were identified statistically. It is demonstrated that the PAHs in Bushehr street dust are mainly petrogenic derived from traffic emission. A significant positive correlation coefficient also exists between the ∑PAH concentration and toxic equivalency concentration (TEQ). Estimated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) results indicated that Bushehr residents are potentially exposed to a high cancer risk, especially via dust ingestion and dermal contact.</p