Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The State of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea

Author(s): Charles Osterberg and Stjepan Keckes
Source: Ambio, Vol. 6, No. 6, The Mediterranean: A Special Issue (1977), pp. 321-326
Published by: Springer on behalf of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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of the Mediterranea
Sea
BY CHARLESOSTERBERGAND STJEPANKECKES
Whatis the totalpollution load on the Mediterranean?The authorspresentan
overview of the majorpollutants,and make some evaluationof theirrelative
importance.Sewage and oil appearto be the majorproblems,and the fringeareas
of the sea are most exposed.
The Joint Group of Experts on Scientific
Aspects of MarinePollution (GESAMP),
has definedmarinepollutionas follows:
"The introductionby man, directly or
indirectly, of substances or energy into
the marine environment (including
estuaries) resulting in such deleterious
effects as harm to living resources,
hazards to human health, hindrance to
marine activities including fishing, im-
pairingthe qualityfor use of sea waterand
reductionof amenities."
Almost intuitively, one would expect
that the Mediterranean Sea would be
susceptible to pollution. Goldberg(1) re-
lates pollution to gross nationalproduct,
and some of the more industrializedna-
tions of the world are along the shores of
the Mediterranean.Furthermore,it is a
restricted,relatively shallow body of wa-
ter, open by only small passages to the
Atlanticat Gibraltarand to the Black Sea
throughthe Dardanelles. Exchange with
the Red Sea through the Suez Canal is
minimal.Moreover, evaporationexceeds
combined rainfall and river inflow by a
factor of about three. Were it not for its
connection with the Atlantic and the
Black Sea, its level would graduallyfall.
Because most of the water lost by
evaporation is replaced through the
Straitsof Gibraltar,the surfacewaternear
Gibraltar is more nearly like Atlantic
Ocean water, tending to become saltier
(due to evaporationof water from the sea
surface) as it moves eastward. Thus,
surface water in the western Mediterra-
neanhas a salinityof less than37 partsper
thousand, while near Asia Minor it
reaches above 39 parts per thousand.Be-
cause of insolation and isolation, the
Mediterraneanis also somewhat warmer
thanthe Atlantic.
In late winternearthe islandof Rhodes,
the density of the surfacewater increases
due to a combinationof low temperature
(15?C) and high salinity (39.1 %o), and
sinks to about 100-200m. This Levantine
intermediate water is found throughout
AMBIO, 1977
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the Mediterraneanat depths of 200 to 600
m, eventuallyleaving as the Gibraltarcur-
rent at a depth of 275 m.
There is a fairly strong surface current
flowing into the Mediterraneanfrom the
Atlantic, sweeping along the North Afri-
can coast, slowing considerablybefore it
reaches the eastern Mediterranean,and
continuingon around,counter clockwise.
In additionto this main current,there are
secondary counter clockwise currents in
several areas. In general, coastal currents
are not strong, and pollutantstend to hug
the shores. Pollutants discharged at a
distancefromthe coast are muchmoreapt
to be mixed, especially in the upper 100
meters, but even down to 600 meters. As
there is no tide to speak of, tidal currents
are not availableto sweep away pollution.
This has its positive side too, because at
"low tide" there are no large exposed
beaches covered with flotsam and smel-
ling of sewage. However, because of the
above characteristics, it has been ex-
pected that the Mediterraneanwould be
among the first semi-enclosed seas (ex-
cludingthe Black Sea, which, because of
its anoxic bottom waters and reduced sa-
linity, is a special case) to show the
symptomsof man's impact.
The Mediterraneanhas lived with pol-
lution for many centuries. The great
cultures that flourished along its banks
were to a large extent dependent on the
Mediterraneanfor commerce and suste-
nance. The waste and debris from these
earlier cultures found their way into the
Sea, as does that of today's societies. But
consideringthe size of the Mediterranean,
2 965 000 kM2, the impact was un-
doubtedlysmall and local in the past. The
mainpollutionproblemthen was probably
siltation due to the cutting of trees and
overgrazing,with some local sewage dis-
posal problems. However, excessive
plankton blooms, which occasionally re-
sulted in mass fish and shellfishmortality,
were recordedin past centuries along the
coasts of the Mediterraneanwhere the ex-
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change of coastal waters with those from
the open Mediterraneanis limitedor slow.
Those plankton blooms might have been
associated with the enrichmentof seawa-
ter with nutrients resulting from human
activities.
Today the Mediterraneanis less able to
absorb the wastes of modem man, for
three major reasons. The first, and most
obvious, is that we are now so many. Sec-
ondly, our wastes contain many new
synthetic chemicals that are more toxic
and foreign to the marine environment.
And, finally, we have become more pro-
lific users of materialsand energy.
Dr. Donald Pritchard (2), who spent
most of his career studying Chesapeake
Bay in the state of Maryland,USA, once
evaluated the threat of pollutantsto that
bay in the following orderof importance:
1) industrialand chemical wastes
2) sewage
3) oil (mostly from bilge pumping)
4) thermal
5) radioactivity
While that assessment was made a few
years ago before the furorover PCBs and
pesticides was well developed, it is prob-
ably not a bad estimate for the Mediterra-
nean, except, because of local circum-
stances, oil pollution is more prevalent
here than in ChesapeakeBay.
In this paper we will briefly examine
these pollutantsto evaluate the character
and importanceof the threats they might
pose to the marine environment in the
Mediterranean.Industrial and chemical
wastes (plus agriculturalrunoff) include
two pollutantsof extreme concern:metals
and pesticides. Because of their signifi-
cance, we will look at them separately.
METALS
All of the heavy elements released to the
ocean from industryare present naturally
in sea water. Even mercury, indicted in
the infamous Minamata Bay incident in
Japan, is found in the ocean. Problems
321
Table 1. Origin of industrial wastes in the Mediterranean (3).

Textile Metals Food

Chemical and and production, Wood, Estimated
production leather shipyards beverages paper Mining No. of
Area % % % % % % factories
Spain, excepting its
Catalonian coast 31 29 17 14 8 1 13 400
Coast of Algeria based on
and Tunisia 41 9 13 30 5 2 100 largest
Catalonian coast of
Spain and Gulf of Lion* 22.3 23.6 33.5 7.2 13.4 - 17 000
Liguria (Italy) 21.6 35.6 7.6 10.5 22.3 2.2 15 000
Tyrrhenian Sea
(Gulf of Taranto) 12.0 48.3 3.9 12.0 22.2 1.6 60 000
Adriatic 7.3 65 3.0 10.0 13.8 0.9 35 000
Aegean and Sea of Crete 29 12 19 23 10 7 ?
Levant Basin 27 12 14 27 8 12 ?
Israel 34 27 12 18 9 - ?

France is not included

arise for two reasons: local levels near Table 2. Organic load of industrial waste in the northwestern basin of the Mediterranean Sea (3).
effluent outfalls become high, and certain
Inhabitant-
organisms concentrate the mercury to equivalents BOD5* BOD5 per km
even higher levels that are toxic to man. (in millions) (tonnes/year) (tonnes/year)
An additional problem occurs if the heavy
element released is in a different physio- Spanish section
(including Ebro River) 5 100 000 342
chemical form than its natural form in sea French section
water. Then it will appear as a substance (including Rhone River) 10 200 000 446
foreign to marine plants and animals and Italian section
may be concentrated or rejected in an un- (including Arno River) 5.7 114 000 345
usual way. Total northwestern basin 20.7 414 000
Despite the undoubtedly heavy pollu-
Biological oxygen demand during a five-day period
tion from industrial effluents, particularly
in the northwestern basin (3) including-
Spain, France, Monaco and the Genoa
area of Italy (see Tables 1 and 2), there are
few systematic studies of the heavy met- 6. 1
als introduced with these effluents.
Clearly, the amounts of almost all heavy 5.0 -
elements added to the Mediterranean are 4.0 I----4
100 km/ I I ~MARCH'74
small compared with the total amount
3.0 -
normally present in the Mediterranean
Sea itself, but there are pronounced in- 2.0 -
creases in certain local areas such as ports
1.0 -
4.0 / JUNE'7
and estuaries, particularly for those met-
als which reach the Sea mainly by way of 0

runoff waters. However, many metals or

their compounds, notably lead originating 5.0
from automobile exhaust, are quite vol- 4.0 JUNE'74
atile and are washed into the Sea from the
atmosphere by rain. 3.0 -
2.0 -
Mercury 2 1.0 -
Because of its significance with regard to
human health, mercury is being acutely <
scrutinized in the Mediterranean, and z
some interesting new data were submitted 5. 1 3 4 5 7890122.4
6
at a conference in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, Z 4.0 - SEPT'74
May 2-6, 1977 (4). Unfortunately, the data Figure 1VaitosoCucnetaoofsaaea21.6
are tentative, and not for publication yet.
We can say, however, that the Mediterra- 3.0
-
\ an
nean as a whole appears neither worse nor 2.0-
better than other oceans that have been
studied more thoroughly, although there
are some local "hot spots".
A large number of fishes are being 5.01
analyzed. In general, they have higher 4.0k- DEC'74
concentrations(150-400gg/kg) than mus-
sels but about the same as squid and 3.0-
octopus. Significantly higher levels of 2.0 -~ -~,
mercuryhave been foundonly in tunaand
swordfish. Concentrationsof mercury in
two species of tuna, accordingto Cumont,
Gilles and Feinberg (4), are on average 1 2 3 4 56 7 89 1011 12 13 14
three times higher in the Mediterranean Figure 1. Variations of Cu concentration of seawater along the north-
(2500-3500Ag/kg)thanin the Atlanticand western coast of the Mediterranean (-o- at pH~8; --.-- at pH 4).

322 AMBIO VOL 6 NO.6

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are above the levels considered as "safe"
by official standards now used in most of
the Mediterranean countries. Because Q ~~~~~~ITALY
these are open-ocean fish, we are confi-
dent that the mercury they contain is not
principally derived from man's activities FRANCE
and must be accepted as a natural
phenomenon, probably due to specific
seismic activities whereby mercury is
emitted directly into or over the Mediter-
ranean Sea.
Cadmium
Since cadmium, like mercury, has been
indicated in connection with human dis-
ease in Japan, its fate in the ocean is of
great interest, although the marine food
chain has yet to be implicated. Measure-
ments in the offshore waters of the
Mediterranean, generally less than 0.3
,g/l, reveal that levels here are very
similar to those in other oceans (5).
Cadmium does not appear to behave in
the same manner as the other metals Figure 2. Coastal and offshore sampling stations (5).
mentioned here, and is less concentrated
Station No. 1 Sete Station No. 6 Toulon Station No. 11 Monaco
near the shore, indicating a smaller input " No. 2 Grau de Roi " No. 7 Cap Camarat " No. 12 San Remo
from terrestrial runoff (6). " No. 3 Port St Louis " No. 8 St Tropez " No. 13 Savona
" No. 4 Port Marseille " No. 9 St Raphael " No. 14 Genoa
Copper " No. 5 Cap de l'Aigle " No. 10 Cannes
Copper levels can increase markedly in
coastal areas where there is runoff from
the land. Data from Fukai and Huynh-
Ngoc (5) based on measurements taken
along the coast of France from Sete to marine organisms thought to harm those Marchand, Vas and Duursma (8) found
Italy near Genoa, show large increases of organisms. High levels of zinc (up to 200 increased levels of DDT in mussels,
copper off Marseilles (Station 4) in March ,ug/1)are found in the coastal area, but this Mytilus galloprovincialis (about 4000 ppb)
1974, and Toulon (Station 6) in September metal is rapidly removed by biota, disper- in the coastal zone near flower-growing
(Figure 1). Station locations are shown in sion and diffusion. With increasing dis- areas along the French-Italian border.
Figure 2. Mussels collected along the tance from the coast, levels drop rapidly; Except for harbors, which also showed
same coastline by Fowler and Oregioni (7) open Mediterranean levels appear normal high levels, stations along the remainder
showed relatively high levels of copper (5-15 ug/l). of the northern coast of the Ligurian Sea
and several other heavy metals (but not averaged in the "hundreds" of parts-per-
cadmium) in the same areas, as well as off billion of DDT. Since flowers are not used
Savona and Genoa, Italy. For example, PESTICIDESAND PCBs for food, relatively high levels of
the Cu content varied from 5.1 Ag/g dry These chlorinated hydrocarbons find their pesticides are used in their production.
weight in a relatively clean portion of the way through various pathways (largely However, more recent efforts to find DDT
French coast to a high of 95 ,uglg off through the atmosphere) to the ocean. or its metabolites in open sea water of the
Marseille. Neither of the above- Their threat to the marine biota lies in Mediterranean have been unsuccessful
mentioned teams of investigators see any their toxicity (indeed, that is the purpose (see note added in proof, references and
indication that copper levels in the of pesticides) and their persistence. Once notes list). PCBs (chlorinated biphenyls),
Mediterranean differ significantly from broken down into their components on the other hand, have been measured in
other oceans; we might conclude that the (chlorine, hydrogen, carbon and oxygen), air, seawater, organisms and sediments in
risks from present copper levels are small. they would be completely innocuous in the Mediterranean (9, 10, 11). The gra-
Nevertheless, it should be noted that at seawater. Unfortunately, the degradation dients with distance from shore are small
elevated copper concentrations in sea- process is extremely slow, and some sci- for the air samples, but larger for water
water, oysters become dark-green colored entists fear these substances may even samples, indicating some enrichment in
and inappropriate for human consumption poison the organisms responsible for their runoff. Elder and Villeneuve (12) report
although they themselves do not seem to degradation in the ocean. If true, this 0.8 to 9.0 mg/kg of PCBs in sediments,
be affected by the accumulated metal. would be an extremely serious problem. including samples taken at 4000 m depth
Lead
Lead is difficult to measure and previous
errors are just now being rectified. There
are very few lead data for the Mediterra-
Table 3. Comparison of PCB concentration in seawater from different oceanic regions (10).
nean, but we believe that lead levels are
not unduly high compared with the aver- (PCB) (PCB)
age in the world's oceans. Goldberg (1) Sampling No. of (ng/l) (ng/l)
reports that "... up to the present no Location dates samples (range) (mean)
deleterious effects from existing lead North Atlantic 1972 52 <1-150 35
burdens in marine organisms have been Atlantic 1973-74 25 N R* 1.3
demonstrated. There is a concemn from Firth of Taye
the human health standpoint of the con- (Scotland) 1973 - 5-20 N R*
sumption of lead-contaminated organisms Sargasso Sea 1973 8 <0.9-3.6 1.1
even though they may be unaffected by N E Pacific
high amounts of this metal". (southern California
coast) 1974 14 2.3-35.6 9.2
N W Mediterranean
Zinc coast 1975 11 1.5-38 13
Zinc has not been implicated in any hu- Mediterranean Sea 1975 80 <0.2-8.6 2.0
man diseases derived from the eating of
seafoods, nor are the levels found in * N R = not reported.

AMBIO, 1977 323

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i MARSEILESLIVOO
t S~~~~~A
BARCELONA A4A I45
R SEILLE
(I
000
000)(89
BARCELONA
1,.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7
100-20IDOMSTIC~ ~
50-100~ ~ ~
BOESTONNLONERIKM
EWAG
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~20(800
70 000)IDSRA AT
ALI A T IFOCALMPOINTSOF4POLLU
TION
}(POPULATION OF MAINCOASTAL
l 70oooBODs (TONNES/YEAR)
Figure 3. Pollution by domestic sewage and industrial waste. No detailed information provided for
Africancoast (domestic sewage) and Aegean Sea, Levant Basin, and Africanwaters (industrialwaste)
(3).
in the Ionian Sea. Air samples taken at
Monaco ranged from 0.03 to 1.0 ng/m3,
and showed a strong seasonal component.
Values of PCBs for both sediments and
air, as well as those measured in Mediter-
ranean waters (Table 3) do not differ
markedly from levels reported from other
ocean areas.
An interesting observation by Fowler
and Elder (13) shows that, while micro-
plankton strongly concentrate PCBs, the
levels appear to decline at successive food
chain levels. In successive tows during a
single night, 5 km off Villefranche-sur-
Mer, France, they caught enough or-
ganisms to analyze several trophic levels
from the same bit of ocean water. Their
results show that while the concentra-
tion factor in microplankton (mostly
copepods) was 170 000, it dropped to
20 000-50 000 in the small shrimp-like or-
ganisms (euphausiids and sergestids) that
eat the copepods, and to only 6000 in
Myctophus glaciale, a small fish that eats
euphausiids.
The same phenomenon has been
observed in the passage of radionuclides
through marine food chains, and ex-
plained as a demagnification with in-
creased trophic levels. Apparently PCBs
are not passed along from herbivore to
predator without attrition. The signifi-
cance is that man's diet contains less
PCBs because for the most part he eats
fairly high on the marine food chain.
Elder and Fowler (14) also report that
the penetration of PCBs into the deep
oceans and sediments is occurring too
rapidly to be due to natural mixing pro-
cesses. They suggest that PCBs are being
carried downward by sinking fecal pellets,
which they show to have about a million
times more PCBs than the surrounding
water, and about ten times more than the
food organisms which form the feces. This
324
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VENICE ~RIJEKA(115000) ,
SPLIT6(1150500)
ENOA 000
LIVORIq~~~~~~~~~~~~IZI
(1IT4201)00)0
760~~~~~~~~~~~~28000
~ ~~~~~~ 0
li(
|j
would indicate a cleansing process for the
surface waters, with enrichment in the
sediments.
SEWAGE
The materials of concem in sewage are
phosphates, nitrates (and ammonia),
heavy metals and, unfortunately, some-
times pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
Certainly nitrates and phosphates (along
with silicates) are the vital nutrients of the
sea that ultimately produce the seafood
that man-particularly around the rim of
the Mediterranean-so dearly relishes.
Along the beaches of the Mediterra-
nean, sewage is a major problem both for
aesthetic reasons, and because of the in-
creasing possibility of disease. In 1972, it
was reported that most communities along
the Mediterranean released their sewage
to the sea without treatment (3). Those
that treated the sewage at all usually gave
minimum treatment. We are unable to
determine how much the situation has
changed although there are reports
showing improvement of waste treatment
and disposal practices in many parts of the
Mediterranean basin. More and more
communities realize that dirty beaches re-
pel tourists, and tourism is a large in-
dustry in the Mediterranean area, so the
incentive to clean up is there.
The 1972 data (Table 4) are incomplete,
but indicate that the problem area is the
Riviera region, in the northwestern basin
which extends from the Ebro River in
Spain, across France to the Amo River in
Italy. The release of 336 tonnes per
kilometer of shoreline per year (including
15 tonnes of phosphorus) clearly indicates
the need for improved waste treatment
and disposal practices. This BOD burden
is in addition to the organic load of 446
tonnes/km/yr along the French coastline
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IZMIT(93
(2
ALEX(ANDRIA PO8R5TSOAlD \
ARX}
as indicated in the Metals section (with
only slightly lesser amounts along the bal-
ance of the basin) (Table 2). However,
with Israel, this region probably has the
most ambitious plans for attacking its
sewage problems, and a new survey
should be enlightening. A problem is the
need for drastic overdesign of the waste
treatment system to handle the pheno-
menal peak tourist loads in summer, when
the greatest need for clean beaches oc-
curs. A summary map showing combined
sewage and industrial sources of pollution
(Figure 3) clearly indicates the severity of
the problem.
Some illnesses which can be related to
microbial infections connected with ex-
posure to bathing waters or edible marine
organisms contaminated by sewage are
endemic in the Mediterranean basin or
appear from time to time in some of the
Mediterranean countries (15). A recent
example is the epidemic episode of chol-
era which occurred in 1973 in Italy as a
consequence of Vibrio cholerae El Tor
introduced from abroad and spread
through consumption of infected shellfish
(16).
Although most of the Mediterranean
countries do have standards for the
microbiological quality of their recrea-
tional coastal waters, no sound data sup-
port the prescribed standards, which
explains the lack in their uniformity.
Quantitative epidemiological evidence on
the cause-effect relationship between the
quality of the bathing waters and the inci-
dence of certain illnesses is still missing
and a recent scientific meeting (17) re-
commended that "highly satisfactory
bathing areas should show Escherichia
coli counts consistently less than 100 per
100 ml, and to be acceptable, bathing wat-
ers should not give counts consistently
greater than 1000 E coli per 100 ml". The
AMBIO VOL 6 NO. 6
uncertainties in setting acceptable Table 4. Organic load of domestic sewage discharged into the Mediterranean directly or through rivers,
standards are compounded by lack of given in tonnes/year (3).
adequate data on the survival ability of Phosphorus BOD5/km P/km
pathogenic bacteria and viruses in sea- BOD5 content (P) coastline coastline
water under prevailing conditions in the
MediterraneanSea. Spain 130 000 5 900 60 2.7
Northwestern basin 360 000 16 000 336 15.0
Italy 400 000 18 000 61 2.7
OIL Yuaoslavia 17 800 800 27 1.2
Oil is not a new phenomenonto the ocean Malta 8000 320 67 2.7
since natural oil seeps have long been Greece 100 000 4 500 37 1.7
known to exist. It is only in recent years Turkey* 100 000 4 500 36 1.6
that large amountshave been transported Cyprus 9 600 430 15 0.7
great distances worldwidewith small, but Syria 6 500 260 36 1.4
objectionablelosses. Only during World Lebanon 31 250 1 250 149 6.0
War II, when many tankers were sunk, Israel 32 000 1 400 145 6.5
were losses of oil to the marineenviron-
The Black Sea coast of Turkey has not been included
ment comparable.
Table 5 shows that oil pollution in the
Mediterraneanis widespread (18). Many
oil pipelines from the Persian Gulf area
Table 5. Oil aggregates in 1974 found in surface waters of the Mediterranean basin (18).
terminatein the Mediterranean,and there
is considerable tanker traffic. In 1972 it Percent of
was estimated that 450 million tonnes Number samples Oil aggregates (mg/M2)
would be loaded on tankersin 1976,with of with oil
over half that amount unloaded in samples aggregates Range Mean
Mediterraneanports (3), allowingtwo op- Ionian Sea 21 95 0.23-28.02 9.98
portunitiesfor spillingduringtransferop- Tyrrhenian Sea 9 100 2.30-17.43 7.06
erations. The Mediterraneanseems to be Adriatic Sea 20 55 0.11-17.90 1.77
relatively more polluted (Table 6) by oil Ligurian Sea 15 100 0.24-4.60 1.55
than any other sea for which data are Balearic Sea 6 100 0.08-6.23 1.27
available(19). Aegean Sea 17 23 0.05-0.43 0.23
On a recent (April 1977) UNEP co- Mediterranean along African coast 22 100 0.44-17.50 6.83
sponsored cruise to the eastern Mediter- Black Sea (near Bosporus) 10 100 0.146.30 1.34
ranean, scientists from the International
Atomic Energy Agency's laboratory at
Monacomade the followingobservation:
"Between Crete and Libya a 30-minute Table 6. Relation between occurrence of spilled oil and occurrence of tar concentration (19).
neuston (surface) tow completely filled a
one-liter collecting jar with tar balls. Oil Spilled Tar supply Tar found
and tar residues were omnipresent and Area petroleum rate mean
great precaution was necessary when (1012 m2) (mg/m2/year) (mg/m2/year) (mg/M2)

lowering plankton nets through the North Atlantic 33 17.45 6.13 5

surface(film)to avoid contamination". Mediterranean 2.5 108 38 20
This was only a casual observation, Kuroshio System 10 33 11.6 3.8
since the cruise was for measuringheavy North-East Pacific 40 0.74 0.26 0.4
metals and chlorinatedhydrocarbons,but S W Pacific 45 <0.05 <0.02 <0.005
it was a real shock to oceanographers
whose experience had been in the Pacific
Ocean.
Whilethe debateon long-termeffects of
oil spills goes on (20) the immediatedam- corded but they are often due to the which is a man-madeelement. There has
age to birds, mussels and oyster beds is biocides used in the cooling systems. been increasingconcern about plutonium,
apparent,if only local. Adult fish usually "Thermalpollution" does not impress us but the present levels of this element in
survive, but may have a tainted oil flavor as being a significant marine problem, the marine environment again are very
that makes them unmarketable. particularly since there is increased low compared with the levels of natural
In an economic sense, the greatest po- growth in warmer water which may well radionuclides. In the Mediterranean,for
tential damageis probablyto tourism. To compensate. example, plutoniumis found at levels of
this end, some communities along the about 0.002 disintegrations per minute
France-Monaco-ItalyRiviera region use (dpm) per liter (22). The natural alpha-
small boats (called Pelicans) which skim RADIOACTIVITY emitting elements, on the other hand,
up oil slicks and debris. The feeling is that
Radionuclidesare not foreignmaterialsin combineto give a total level which is more
the beaches are cleaner since the Pelicans sea water. Natural radionuclides which
startedworking. than a thousandtimes higher.At any rate,
emit all three types of radiation,a, ,3, y, radioactivity is certainly the best con-
are found in uncontaminatedseawater. trolledand studiedof the pollutantsin the
THERMALDISCHARGES Even after massive atmosphericnuclear Mediterraneanand thus is considered to
The authors'bias shows here. We regard weapon tests, which release far more be a less pressing problem in this over-
this as a non-problem, compared with radioactivitythan the total nuclearpower view. However, additional data for
those above. Heat is not a pollutantin the program, only a small fraction (<1 per- radioactivity are available so we will at
ordinary sense (although we note with cent) of the radioactivityin the ocean de- least summarizethem.
chagrinthatGESAMPprobablyconsiders rives from man. In marine organisms, The two major natural radionuclides,
it as such), because no materials are moreover, it is clear that the major con- potassium-40and rubidium-87,cause 670
added to the water, it is just that the tributor to the radiation dose is usually and 64 radioactive dpm/l of sea water,
energy content is increased slightly. Heat the naturally occurring alpha-emitter, respectively (23). In comparison,
is rapidly lost to the atmosphereand di- polonium-210(21). strontium-90in sea water from fallout in
luting waters, and cannot be conserved As for the artificialradionuclidesfound the AtlanticOcean at the same latitudeas
locally. In any case, any effect is ex- in the sea, their non-radioactive the Mediterraneanaveraged about 0.45
tremely local and the threat to man im- homologues are also found there, except dpm at the high point in 1964and dropped
measurablysmall. Fish kills have been re- some a emitters, including plutonium to about 0.36 dpm in 1967(24). The latest

AMBIO, 1977 325

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Table 7. Estimated annual radioactive discharges into the Mediterranean Sea (in curies per year) (26). 16. Giornale di Malattie Infettive e Parassitarie, 26,
No. 3 (1974).
1977 1982 1987 17. Report of the Mid-Term Review Meeting for the
Joint WHO/UNEP Co-ordinated Pilot Project on
Total Total Total Coastal Water Quality Control in the Mediterra-
Total Activity activity activity activity nean, Rome, May 30-June 1 1977 (WHO, Copen-
from except except except hagen, 1977).
site or river tritium Tritium tritium Tritium tritium Tritium 18. A G Benzhitsky, G G Polikarpov, Okeanologiya,
16, 87 (1976).
Jucar River - - 3 50 3 50 19. Petroleum in the Marine Environment (National
Ebro River 4 270 7 770 10 1620 Academy of Science, Washington, DC, 1975).
20. Impact of Oil on the Marine Environment.
Vandellos Coast 8 200 11 450 14 700 GESAMP Reports and Studies No. 6 (FAO, Ro-
Rhone River - - - - - - me, 1977).
Tyrrhenian Coast 6 100 6 100 19 450 21. R D Cherry, L V Shannon, Atomic Energy Re-
view, 12, 3 (1974).
Garigliano 6 5 6 5 6 5 22. Activities of the International Laboratory of Ma-
Rotondella rine Radioactivity (IAEA, Vienna, 1976).
(lonian Sea) 1 1 1 1 1 1 23. A B Joseph, P F Gustafson, I R Russell, E A
Adriatic Coast - - - - 6 500 Schuert, H L Volchok, A Tamplin, in Radioacti-
Po River 6 1060 6 1060 11 1650 vity in the Marine Environment (National Acade-
my of Sciences, Washington, DC) p 8.
Yugoslavia Coast - - - - 6 300 24. H L Volchok, V T Bowen, T R Folsom, W S
Greece - - - 3 150 Broecker, E A Schuert, G S Bien, in Ibid, p 45.
Turkey - - - - 3 150 25. R Fukai, Activities of the International Laborato-
- - - -
ry of Marine Radioactivity (IAEA, Vienna, 1974).
Israel 2 170
26. J R Grover, unpublished report prepared for the
Egypt - - - - 4 200 United Nations Environment Programme, MED.
X, (IAEA, Vienna, 1977).
-30 -1630 -40 -2500 -90 -6000
Note added in proof:
We learned of its existence too late to include data
from: V V Andrushchenko, L G Kulebakina, D B
Girenko, "Organochlorine Pesticides in Water and
Organisms of the Mediterranean Sea", in Radiochem-
ical Investigations in the Mediterranean Sea, 70th
Expedition of Research Ship Akademik A Kovalevsky,
May-July 1972 (Naukova dumka, Kiev, 1975) pp 17-
measurements for the Mediterranean in age-are present in those coastal waters 32.
1974 indicate about 0.2-0.3 dpm (25), es- where population and industry are great-
sentially all from fallout. est. Unfortunately, these are the same
Tritium is clearly the most abundant areas where man takes his recreation. Of
radionuclide that can be expected from those pollutants that have been looked at,
power reactors. Fortunately, it is quite sewage, particularly because of its poten- Charles L Osterberg is Director of the In-
innocuous and is not concentrated in or- tial load of pathogenic bacteria and viru- ternational Laboratory of Marine Radio-
ganisms or sediments; therefore the levels ses, seems to pose the greatest human activity, Monaco, of the International
permitted by the International Commis- health hazard. Sewage and oil pose the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).Duringthe
sion on Radiation Protection are 1000 to greatest aesthetic problem. period 1962-1967, as Professor of Ocea-
10 000 times higher than for cesium. The We can only guess which pollutants nography at Oregon State University, he
engaged in radioecological studies of the
sea contains so much water that it is an pose the greatest threat to the plants and Columbia River and the adjacent area of
excellent repository for tritium, which is a animals of the sea. These seem to have an the Pacific Ocean. In his nine years in
hydrogen isotope. Using the data of affinity for heavy elements, but there is no Washingon, DC, he served the US Atomic
Grover (26), and assuming that all evidence that these elements affect them Energy Commission as Assistant Director
radioactivity stays in the upper 100 me- adversely at current levels. Rather than of Environmental Sciences, Division of
ters, we calculate from projections of speculate, perhaps it is best (and safest) to Biomedical and Environmental Sciences;
growth in the year 1987 for the Mediterra- await the results of the ambitious UNEP- and as Environmental Program Manager
sponsored Mediterranean Pollution Mon- in the Energy Research and Development
nean only 0.2 dpm liter for tritium from Administration.In these two agencies he
nuclear operations and about 0.004 dpm itoring and Research Program which is oversaw many of the studies on the im-
from all other artifical radionuclides de- mobilizing the scientific resources around pact of energy use and development on
rived from nuclear power users. Clearly, the rim of the Mediterranean to make the the environment. He has published about
the amount of radioactivity from fallout measurements and observations needed 50 papers and articles, mostly in marine
is small compared with natural to really ascertain the "health" of the radioecology, and represents the IAEAon
radioactivity, and the amount of Mediterranean. the Joint Group of Experts on the Scien-
radioactivity expected from nuclear tific Aspects of Marine Pollution
(GESAMP).His address: IAEA,Internatio-
power operations is smaller yet, except
References and Notes: nal Laboratory of Marine Radioactivity,
for tritium. Mus6e Oc6anographique, Monaco.
Grover (26) using the best data available 1. E D Goldberg, The Health of the Oceans
and conservative assumptions, estimated (UNESCO Press, Paris, 1976) pp 141-150. Stiepan Keckes is the coordinator of the
2. D W Pritchard, John Hopkins University, Balti-
that up to the year 1982, 12 000 curies of more, Maryland, USA personal communication. UNEP-sponsored Mediterranean Pollu-
tritium and 200 curies of all other 3. The State of Marine Pollution in the Mediterra- tion Monitoring and Research Program.
radionuclides would be discharged into nean and Legislative Controls, GFCM Studies His involvement with marine sciences
the Mediterranean. Up to the year 1987 and Reviews No. 51 (FAO, Rome, 1972). started in 1960 in Rovinj, Yugoslavia, in
4. Report of the Mid-Term Expert Consultation on the field of ecophysiology and marine ra-
these figures will be 30 000 and 500 curies the Joint FAO (GFCM)/UNEP Co-ordinated dioecology. From 1966 until 1971, as the
respectively. Project on Pollution in the Mediterranean, Dub- head of the Biology Section of the IAEA
rovnik, May 2-13 1977 (FAO, Rome, 1977).
5. R Fukai, L Huynh-Ngoc, Marine Pollution Bulle-
International Laboratory of Marine Ra-
tin, 7, 9 (1976). dioactivity, Monaco, he was actively en-
SUMMARY 6. A Preston, Ibid, 4, 135 (1973). gaged in studies of the bioaccumulation
While the Mediterranean appears to be 7. S W Fowler, B Oregioni, Op cit 5, 7, 26 (1976). of radionuclides and heavy metals. After
8. M Marchand, D Vas, E Duursma, Op cit 5, 7, 65 1971, as the Deputy Director of the "Rud-
"sickly" in certain areas along its fringes, (1976).
where the impact of man is greatest, the jer Boskovic" Institute, he was in charge
9. D L Elder, Op cit 5, 7, 63 (1976). of the Institute's Center for Marine Re-
large open masses of Mediterranean Sea 10. D L Elder, J P Villeneuve, Op cit 5, 8, 19 (1977).
search in Rovinjand Zagreb. He has been
water do not seem to be much different 11. R N Dexter, S P Pavlou, Op cit 5, 4, 188 (1973).
12. D L Elder, J P Villeneuve, Thalassia Jugoslavia, a consultant to WHO, FAO and IOC, a
from other oceans, except perhaps for oil in press. member of GESAMPfor four years and
tar-balls floating in the water and for the 13. S W Fowler, D L Elder, Bulletin of Environmen- has about 50 publications to his credit,
elevated levels of mercury found in mi- tal Contamination and Toxicology, in press. most of them relevant to marine pollution.
14. D L Elder, S W Fowler, Science 197, 459 (1977). His address: UNEP, Palais des Nations,
gratory fish, such as tuna and swordfish. 15. J Brisou, An Environmental Sanitation Plan for
The first signs of illness-increased lev- CH-1211Geneva 10, Switzerland.
the Mediterranean Seaboard, WHO Public Health
els of heavy metals, pesticides and sew- Paper No. 62 (WHO, Geneva, 1976).

326 AMBIOVOL6 NO. 6

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