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Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs residues in sediments of Alexandria

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Organochlorine pesticides and PCB residues in sediments
of Alexandria Harbour, Egypt

Assem O. Barakat a,*, Moonkoo Kim b, Yoarong Qian b, Terry L. Wade b

a Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University,

21511 Moharrem Bey, Alexandria, Egypt
b Geochemical and Environmental Research Group, Texas AM University, College
Station, Texas, TX 77845, USA

Abstract

Persistent organochlorine compound concentrations were determined for 23 surface

sediment samples collected from Alexandria Harbor, Egypt. Total PCB concentrations
ranged from 0.9 to 1210 ng/g with four to seven Cl-substituted biphenyls being the
most prevalent PCBs congeners. Different PCB congener distribution patterns
were observed, probably reflecting different inputs and attenuation at various
locations. Total DDT concentrations varied from <0.25 ng/g to 885 ng/g. The ratios
of DDTs (2,40- and 4,40- DDT)/total DDTs (DDTs plus metabolites) in sediment
samples from certain sites were 0.86 or higher, indicating little attenuation or
recent input of DDT. Total chlordane (the sum of heptachlor and its epoxide,
oxy-, c- and a-chlordane and cis þ trans-nonachlor) ranged from <0.25 to 44 ng/g
with the highest concentration found in the Arsenal Basin. The geographic
distributions of PCBs, total DDTs and total chlordane were similar.
Chlorinated benzenes (CBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), aldrin, dieldrin,
endrin, chloropyrifos, endosulfan, mirex and pentachloroanisole were below
detection limits or detected at low concentrations in most of the samples. Sites
that were contaminated with high concentrations of organochlorine compounds
were associated with dense population and low energy environment. The
contamination levels of PCBs, total DDTs and total chlordane were in high range
compared to other locations worldwide.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Organochlorine pesticides; PCBs; Marine sediments; Persistent organic

pollutants; Alexandria Harbour, Egypt

Coastal sediments act as temporary or long-term sinks for many classes of

anthropogenic contaminants. Organochlorines (OCs), such as polychlorinated biphe-
nyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides, represent an important group of persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) that have caused worldwide concern as toxic
environ-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20-354-63250; fax: +20-354-63305.

E-mail address: abarakat@dataxprs.com.eg (A.O. Barakat).
mental contaminants (Bildeman and Olney, 1974; Tan- abe et al., 1982; Wade et
al., 1988; Iwata et al., 1994; Allen-Gil et al., 1998; Wu et al., 1999). Many
POPs are believed to be possible carcinogens or mutagens and are of considerable
concern to human and environmental health. Although most of these compounds
are no longer in use, the persistence of many OC compounds in the environment has
prompted continued studies aimed at evaluating environmental quality for wildlife
and humans (e.g., Wade et al., 1998).
Baseline / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434
1427

Studies on the environmental health of Alexandria Harbour have concentrated in

the past mostly on simple chemical and bulk analysis of sediments and water (El-
Sayed et al., 1988; EA-ESTI, 1997). Few studies on the status of persistent
organic contaminants in the coastal areas in Egypt have been conducted
(Abdallah, 1992; Abdallah and Abbas, 1994). Alexandria Harbour plays important
roles in both commercial activities for the economic development of Egypt
and as an ecosystem to nurture coastal marine life. However, there is limited
information available on the status of POPs in this im- portant ecosystem.
The Alexandria Harbour provides shelter from the open sea (Mediterranean Sea)
giving rise to its use as a natural marina (Fig. 1). The narrow harbour entrance
and the limited tidal range have made the harbour a lagoon-like enclosure.
The rapid development of the Alexandria Harbour in the last few years and the
con- tinued increase in commercial and industrial activities within the
harbour exert additional stress. The water quality in the harbour is
potentially impacted by

wastewater disposal (both untreated sewage and indus- trial) which are currently
discharged to the harbour and the Mediterranean Sea directly via El-Mex Pump
Sta- tion and through numerous storm and combined sewer outfalls located within
the harbour area. The harbour is also heavily influenced by agricultural run off
from the El-Mahmoudiya and Noubaria canals.
OC pesticides have been used substantially in Egypt for the control of
agricultural pests. Although the usage of PCBs in Egypt is not known, the past
use of these substances in transformers, electrical equipments, ship painting
and other industrial has been common. The objectives of this investigation were to
assess the oc- currence and distribution of persistent OC pesticides and PCB
residues in sediments of Alexandria Harbour and to evaluate their potential
effects on aquatic or- ganisms.
Twenty three sediment samples were collected within
the harbour (Fig. 1) to cover regions affected by intense activities, freshwater
input, wastewater outfalls as well as relatively pristine areas. In
addition, two reference

Fig. 1. Location map of surface sediment sampling stations in Alexandria

Harbour, Egypt.
1428 Baseline /
Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434

sediment samples, collected from Stanley Bay and Montazah beach located along the
coast of Alexandria city were analyzed with this sample set.
Surface sediment samples were taken with an Ekman grab sampler. Collected samples
were frozen on dry ice and transferred to the laboratory for processing. Sample
preparation and analysis methods have been described in Wade et al. (1988).
Briefly, about 10 g of freeze-dried sediment was Soxhlet-extracted with
methylene chlo- ride. Concentrated extracts were fractionated with alu-
mina/silica gel (80–100 mesh) column chromatography. Target analytes were eluted
from the column with 50 ml of pentane (aliphatic fraction) and 200 ml
of 1:1 pentane–dichloromethane (aromatic/PCB/pesticide frac- tion). The fractions
were then concentrated to 1 ml using Kuderna–Danish tubes heated in a water bath
at 60 C. The surrogates dibromooctafluorobiphenyl (DBOFB), PCB103, and PCB198 were
added to the samples prior to extraction.
The chlorinated pesticides and PCBs were analyzed by gas chromatography in the
spitless mode using an electron capture detector (ECD). A 30 m 0:32 mm i.d.
fused silica column with DB-5 bonded phase (JW Sci- entific, Inc.) provided
component separations. The chromatographic conditions for the pesticide–PCB
analysis were 100 C for 1 min, then 5 C min 1 to 250
C, hold for 1 min, and then 10 C min 1 to 300 C and
a final hold of 5 min. The internal standard, tetrachloro- m-xylene (TCMX), was
added prior to GC/ECD anal- ysis to monitor the recovery of surrogate. A
standard solution containing only PCBs was used to confirm the identification of
each PCB congener. The QA/QC pro- cedures included analysis of matrix spikes,
duplicates, laboratory blanks and certified reference material (Wade and Cantillo,
1994). For data presentation all concen- trations below the method detection
limits were assigned a value of 0.25 ng/g (dry weight) as the estimated aver- age
detection limit. The instrument was calibrated by injection of the
standards component mixture at five different concentrations, prior to analysis of
the samples.
The following compounds were included in this study:
2,40-DDT (2,40-dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane), 4,40- DDT and their
degradation products 2,40-DDD (2,40- dichloro-diphenyldichloroethane), 4,40-DDD,
2,40-DDE (2,40-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethene) and 4,40-DDE, chlordane related
compounds, chlorinated benzenes (CBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), aldrin,
dieldrin, endrin, chloropyrifos, endosulfan, mirex and pentachloro-
anisole. For simplicity, the following nomenclature will be used in this paper:
DDTs for the sum of 2,40- and 4,40- DDT; DDDs for the sum of 2,40- and 4,40-DDD;
DDEs for the sum of 2,40- and 4,40-DDE; total DDTs for the sum of DDTs,
DDDs, and DDEs; total chlordane for the sum of heptachlor and its epoxide, oxy-,
c, and a- chlordane, and cis- and trans-nonachlor; CBs for the sum

of 1,2,4,5- and 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorobenzene (TCB), pen- tachlorobenzene (PeCB)

and hexachlorobenzene (HCB); HCHs for the sum of a-,b-, c-, and d-hexachlorohexane.
Furthermore, the sum of 99 individual PCB congeners will be referred to as PCBs.
PCBs concentrations in the sediments ranged from
0.9 to 1210 ng/g with a median of 260 ng/g (Table 1). The 21 harbour sites had
PCBs levels higher than 37 ng/ g. The reference sites and the remaining open water
sites had PCBs concentrations between 0.9 and 2.8 ng/g. Highest concentrations of
PCBs were found in samples collected from enclosed vessel anchorage basins
within the inner harbour (stations 1–9, Fig. 1). PCBs in samples collected from
the inner harbour in the Arsenal Basin (1210 ng/g; station 1) and near El-
Mahmoudiya Quay (556 and 477; stations 8 and 6, respectively) were among the
highest sediment PCBs concentrations. These loca- tions also had high
concentrations of heavy metals and butyltin compounds (Barakat et al., 2001).
Concentrations of PCBs in samples collected from enclosed bays and ship docking
facilities in the Outer Harbour were also high. Two sites (stations 12 and 14)
near a ship building facility close to Coal Quay had PCBs concentrations
of 479 and 410 ng/g, respectively. High PCBs concentrations were also found in
samples from the Marine Ship Lift and Dry Dock Facilities (218 ng/g, station 10),
and the Harbour Bank area (178 and
206 ng/g; stations 17 and 18, respectively). PCBs levels were lower in the open
mooring and anchorage areas (97–152 ng/g; sites 13, 15, and 16, Fig. 1)
and ship channels (63–109 ng/g; sites 11, 20 and 21) where heavy traffic of tankers
and commercial cargo boats are com- mon. PCBs concentrations were low in open
areas out- side the harbour (0.9 and 2.8 ng/g, stations 22 and 23,
respectively).
The spatial distribution pattern of PCBs indicates that PCB contamination may
have been associated with local ship activities and wastewater effluent outfall
areas. The high concentrations of PCBs at station 1 in the Arsenal Basin
were probably attributed to the opera- tions of boat repairing facilities
of Alexandria Com- pany, including ship repainting, engine overhaul, and
maintenance operations. This site is also located near large outfalls of
storm water and domestic and indus- trial wastewaters. The Arsenal Basin is
a semi-enclosed embayment with limited water exchange with the open
sea. This may contribute to the accumulation of persistent contaminants in
this basin. Similarly, the high concentrations of PCBs at stations near
El-Mah- moudiya Quay may result from outflows from El- Mahmoudiya Canal (Fig. 1).
In addition, there were several local wastewater discharges to this area.
Persistence of PCBs in aquatic sediments is due to their low rate of
degradation and vaporization, low water solubility, and partitioning to
particles and or- ganic carbon (Kennish, 1992). The physicochemical
Baseline / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434
1429

Table 1
Concentrations (ng/g, dry wt) of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides in sediments of
Alexandria Harbour, Egypt
Station no.
Sample location PCBsa PDDTsb Chlordanec HCBsd
CHse Aldrin Dieldrin Endrin Chloro-
pyrifos
Mirex Endo- sulfan
1 Arsenal Basin 1211 885 44
2.4 0.8 <dlf <dl <dl 13
0.4 22
2 Arsenal Basin 114 21 8.7
0.5 0.4 <dl <dl <dl 1.5 <dl
2.1
3 Arsenal Basin 280 189 12
1.5 0.8 <dl <dl <dl 7.9 <dl
1.8
4 Boathouse 349 27 9.3
2.9 0.9 <dl 1.4 0.1 1.2
<dl 5.8
5 El-Mahmudiya
Quay
6 El-Mahmudiya
Quay
7 El-Mahmudiya
Quay
8 El-Mahmudiya
Quay
9 Ship Pass (inner harbour)
10 Marine Ship Lift and floating dry dock
11 Ship Pass (outer harbor)
339 58 7.6 <dl 0.3 2.8
0.0 2.1 <dl <dl <dl

477 23 4.6 3.3 <dl <dl

<dl <dl 22 <dl <dl

274 40 4.8 <dl 0.9 3.9

<dl 1.2 <dl <dl <dl

556 203 29 <dl 6.0 4.6

3.1 6.7 51 <dl <dl

203 36 1.8 0.3 0.4 <dl

0.4 <dl <dl <dl 1.0

218 34 1.3 1.2 2.1 1.1

<dl 0.9 <dl <dl <dl
92 10 <dl 1.4 0.6 1.1
<dl 0.1 <dl <dl <dl
12 Coal Quay 479 66 3.8
0.5 1.4 1.4 0.7 <dl <dl
<dl <dl
13 Coal Basin 128 58 2.1
0.7 1.3 0.8 <dl <dl <dl <dl
0.8
14 Shipyard/ Mooring Area
15 Shipyard/ Mooring Area
16 Mina El-Qa- mariya (Timber Wharves)
410 119 4.0 0.9 0.9 <dl
1.1 0.6 <dl <dl <dl

152 29 2.2 1.7 0.6 <dl

0.4 <dl <dl <dl 3.5

98 15 1.0 0.9 0.5 <dl

0.3 0.4 <dl <dl <dl
17 Harbour Bank 178 30 1.9
1.0 0.7 <dl <dl 0.7 <dl <dl
<dl
18 Mooring Area 206 97 2.1
2.5 1.1 <dl 0.4 1.5 <dl
<dl 2.2
19 Petroleum Har- bor
20 Harbor Inlet
(inside harbor)
21 Harbor Inlet
(outside harbor)
22 Ship Pass (open sea)
23 Ship Pass (open sea)
37 13 0.3 0.4 <dl <dl
<dl <dl <dl <dl <dl

109 27 1.0 1.1 0.4 <dl

<dl <dl <dl <dl 2.3

63 8.9 <dl 1.2 <dl <dl

<dl <dl <dl <dl 0.6

0.9 <dl <dl 0.3 <dl <dl <dl

<dl <dl <dl <dl

2.8 <dl <dl 0.7 <dl <dl <dl

<dl <dl <dl <dl
Ref. 1 Montazah Beach 1.0 <dl <dl <dl
<dl <dl <dl <dl <dl <dl <dl
Ref. 2 Stanley Bay 0.9 <dl <dl
<dl <dl <dl <dl <dl <dl <dl
<dl
a PCB represent the sum of over 96 detected congeners.
b PDDT is the sum of 2,40 + 4; 40 forms of DDT and its breakdown products, 2,4
+ 4,40-DDE and DDD. Concentrations of high DDTs were
confirmed with a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of the samples with
high DDT concentrations.
c Chlordane is the sum of heptachlor and its epoxide, oxy-, c, and a-chlordane,
cis- and trans-nonachlor.
d CB is the sum of 1,2,4,5- and 1,2,3,4-TCB, PeCB and HCB.
e HCH is the sum of a-, b-, c-, and d-hexaachlorohexane.
f <dl ¼ below detection limit (<0.25).

properties as well as the degradation of PCBs vary widely and depend

on the number and position of chlorine atoms in the biphenyl rings
(Reutergarth, 1980; Abramowicz et al., 1993; Rhee et al., 1993). The PCB
congeners identified in sediments of this study were predominantly tetra- to
hepta-chlorinated biphenyls (Fig. 2).
The most abundant PCB congeners detected in these sediment samples were
PCB153/132 and PCB138/160
which are commonly found in environmental samples. Concentrations of PCB136,
PCB180, PCB118, PCB107, PCB110, PCB170, PCB190, PCB187, PCB149 and PCB123 were at
intermediate concentration levels. The latter PCB congeners have low to
medium toxicity (Fern aandez et al., 1999). The more toxic PCB congeners, such as
PCB77, PCB81, PCB194, PCB126, PCB169 and PCB105, were present at low concentrations
in these samples (Figs. 2 and 3).
1430 Baseline /
Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434

Fig. 2. Concentrations of PCBs represented as chlorination levels in Alexandria

Harbour sediments.

Although the observed trends in PCB congeners composition were similar in some of
the samples (e.g. between S-1 and S-3, and between S-5, S-7 and S-10, Fig.
3) the distribution patterns are, in general, different among the sediments of
this study area (Fig. 3), which may indicate different input sources. The usage
of PCB in Egypt is not well established, but the use of PCBs in transformers,
electrical equipment, and other industries is common. The results from this
study suggest that, owing to their persistence, PCBs contamination are widespread
at Alexandria Harbour.
Concentrations of total DDTs varied from <0.25 to
885 ng/g (dry weight) with a median concentration of
87 92 ng/g (Table 1). DDTs (2; 40 þ 4; 40-DDT) and/or their breakdown products
were detected in all of the samples inside the harbour. Samples from
stations 22 and 23, which are located in outside the harbour (Fig.
1), and reference samples contained no detectable
DDTs.
Similar to PCBs, high concentrations of total DDTs were encountered at locations
within the inner harbour and at sites located near ship activities and storm sewer
outfalls (stations 1, 3, 8, 14 and 18; 100–885 ng/g). Other sites with elevated
concentrations of total DDTs (58–66 ng/g) are stations 5, 12, and 13. The
total DDTs con- centrations were in the range from 10 to 40 ng/g (aver- age of 26
7 ng/g) in the remaining samples. The high concentrations of total DDTs and
related compounds in these sediments indicate that DDT usage was heavy and the
harbour has received significant inputs of DDTs.
DDTs undergoes degradation to DDDs and DDEs in natural environment by chemical
and biological pro- cesses (Wedemeyer, 1967; Baxtor, 1990). Fig. 4 shows DDTs
and their metabolites as a percentage of total DDTs at the different
sampling sites. Over 85% of the total DDTs in sediments from stations 1, 3,
and 6 was
present as DDTs and particularly as 2,40-DDT. The dominance of DDTs in the
sediment indicates slow de- gradation of DDTs or recent inputs of fresh DDT
at these locations (Tavares et al., 1999; Yuan et al., 2001). Station 12 also
showed significant concentrations of DDTs (38%).
DDDs and DDEs were predominant in the remaining samples, with DDDs and DDEs
representing over 75% of total DDTs. DDTs were, therefore, not newly re-
leased into those locations and were mainly present as metabolites. DDDs
accounted for the majority of DDT related compounds at these locations (Fig. 4).
The dominance of DDDs over DDEs in these sediments in- dicates reductive
dechlorination of DDTs to DDDs under anaerobic conditions (Wedemeyer, 1967;
Baxtor,
1990). This observation is in agreement with the fact that Alexandria
Harbour is a semi-closed bay with re- stricted water exchange with the open ocean
and the sediments were anoxic.
DDT was widely used in Egypt on a variety of agri- cultural crops and for the
control of disease vectors. The largest agricultural use of DDT has been on
cotton, which accounted for more than 80% of the use before its ban. Although
its usage was banned in 1988, its detec- tion, along with detection of its
breakdown products (i.e., DDEs þ DDDs), in sediments is expected because the
reported environmental half-life of DDTs is esti- mated as 10–20 years
(Woodwell et al., 1971; Sericano et al., 1990).
Sediment concentrations of total chlordane ranged from <0.25 to 44 ng/g (dry
weight) with a median concentration of 6 ng/g (Table 1). a-Chlordane was the major
chlordane isomer in all the samples. This is ex- pected since a-chlordane is one
of the main components of technical grade chlordane (Dearth and Hites, 1991).
Similar to the distribution of DDT and its metabolites,
Baseline / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434
1431

Fig. 3. Relative abundance of selected PCB congeners having the highest average
concentrations in representative sediment samples from Alexandria
Harbour.

high concentrations of total chlordane were encountered in the inner harbour area
(Stations 1–8, Fig. 1) with the highest residue concentrations (44 ng/g) found at
station
1 in the Arsenal Basin. These sites in the inner harbour also had the highest
concentrations of total PCBs and total DDTs. In contrast to stations 1–8,
chlordane concentrations at the remaining sites in the outer har- bour area were
low (less than 4 ng/g), indicating that the contamination of sediments in the outer
Alexandria Harbour by chlordane related compounds was minimal. In addition,
chlordanes were not detected at stations 22 and 23 and the reference stations.
The CBs, such as 1,2,4,5-TCB, 1,2,3,4-TCB, and PeCB, may be metabolites of
the commercial pesticide HCB or other CBs, e.g. pentachlorophenol (Wang and
Jones, 1994). The concentrations of these CBs and HCH were either below detection
limits or low (Table 1).
Highest concentrations of chloropyrifos and endo- sulfan II were found in the
inner harbour region. Chloropyrifos (<0.25–51) was detected in 26% of the
samples with highest levels at station 8, while endosulfan II (<0.25–22) was
detected in 44% of the samples with highest concentrations at the Arsenal
basin (station
1). Chloropyrifosis highly toxic to molluscs, fish and
1432 Baseline /
Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434

detected in 30% of the samples analyzed, dieldrin (<0.25–3.1 ng/g) in 35% samples
and endrin (<0.25–6.7 ng/g) in 39% samples. Other OC pesticides such as mirex and
pentachloroanisole were near or below the method detection limit.
Long et al. (1995) conducted an extensive review of articles that provide both
concentrations of contami- nants in sediment and observed biological effects. They
derived consensus values by considering data from all of the studies reviewed and
ranked from low to high. A
10th and 50th percentile were then determined and were designated effects range
low (ER-L) and effects range median (ER-M). The ER-L and ER-M values for total
Fig. 4. Percentage of total DDTs represented by DDTs and their metabolites DDDs
and DDEs in sediments from Alexandria Harbour.

crustaceans (Briggs, 1992) and it has been reported in Biota samples (Pait
et al., 1992). Endosulfan was reported to be responsible for more fish deaths
in US estuaries and coastal areas between 1980 and 1989 than any currently used
pesticide and was ranked as the most hazardous of the currently used
pesticides considered (Pait et al., 1992).
Aldrin, dieldrin and endrin were found at low con- centrations in several
samples, with highest results found in sediments near El-Mahmoudiya Quay
stations (sta- tions 5, 7 and 8, Table 1). Aldrin (<0.25–4.6 ng/g) was
DDT are 3 and 350 ng/g, for PCBs are 50 and 400 ng/g, and for chlordanes are 0.5
and 6 ng/g, respectively.
Total PCB concentrations in the sediments from nearly all the sites except
for the reference sites and the two sites located in the open ocean were above the
ER-L value and the total PCB concentrations in the samples from five sites
(stations 1, 6, 8, 12, and 14) were above the ER-M value that could elicit toxic
response for most benthic organism. In addition, the DDT concentrations in
samples from all the sites except for the reference sites and sample from the
open ocean (station 22 and 23) were above the ER-L value (Table 1).
Chlordane con- centration exceeded the ER-M at six sites and ER-L at
13 sites. Dieldrin and Endrin concentrations exceeded

Table 2
Comparison of PCB and OC pesticide concentrations (ng/g dry wt) in the sediments
from other locations
Location Year PCBs
Total DDT Chlordane HCHs References
Mediterranean Sea
Northwest Basin 1990 1.4–5.8
1.2–5.8 NA NA Tolosa et al.
(1995)
Open sea 1983 0.8
0.047 NA 0.18a Burns
and Villeneuve (1987)

Coastal
Barcelona Offshore 1990 4.0–64
4.9–79 NA NA Tolosa et al.
(1995) Casco Bay, Maine, USA 1991 0.4–485
<0.2–20 <0.25–4.91 <0.07–0.48a Kennicutt et al. (1994)
Abu-Quir Bay, Egypt 1989–1991 53–231 44–
223 NA 16–82 Abdallah (1992),
Abdallah and
Abbas (1994)
El-Mex Bay, Egypt 1989–1991 68–164
32.3–87 NA 16–53 Abdallah (1992);
Abdallah and
Abbas (1994)

Rivers, lakes, estuaries

Ebro River, Spain 1995–1996 5.3–1772
0.4–52 NA 0.001–0.038 Fern aandez et al. (1999)
Ebro Prodelta, Spain 1990 1.6–39
0.8–93 NA NA Tolosa et al.
(1995) Rhone Prodelta, France 1990 38–230
73–704 NA NA Tolosa et al.
(1995) Lake Baikal, Russia 1992 0.08–6.1
0.014–2.7 n.d.–0.003 0.019–0.12 Iwata et al. (1995)
Washington, DC, USA 1991 68–3200 7–
160 5–153 NA Wade et al. (1994)
Hong Kong, PRC 1997–1998 0.48–97.9
0.27–14.8 n.d.–11.3 0.1–16.7 Richardson and Zheng (1999)
Chinese river/estuaries systems 1996–1998 0.05–20 0.1–71
NA 0.2–101 Hong et al. (1999), Wu et al. (1999),
Yuan et al. (2001)

Harbours
Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong 1992 3.2–27 1.4–30
NA n.d.–2.3 Connell et al. (1998) Xiamen Harbour, PRC
1993 0.05–7.2 4.5–311 NA 0.14–
1.12 Hong et al. (1995) Manukkau Harbour, New Zealand
0.5–14.2 1.2–2.3 0.9–5.3 0.1–2.0 Fox et
al. (1988) Alexandria Harbour, Egypt 1998 0.9–1211
<0.25–885 <0.25–44 0.25–6.0 This study
NA: no data available. n.d.: not detected.
a Reported as c-lindane.
Baseline / Marine Pollution Bulletin 44 (2002) 1421–1434
1433

the ER-L at eight and nine sites, respectively. The high concentrations of PCBs,
DDTs, chlordane, dieldrin and endrin in the sediments of Alexandria Harbour,
there- fore, could cause detrimental biological effects for the benthic
organisms (Long and Morgan, 1990).
Compared to concentrations reported in coastal en- vironments from other parts of
the world, PCB con- centrations in surface sediments of Alexandria Harbour were
one to two orders of magnitude higher than most of the riverine/estuaries
systems (Table 2). However, the concentration of total PCBs in the severely
impacted areas from the US and Spain were higher than the Al- exandria
Harbour area. Similarly, concentrations of total DDT were higher than
other harbours and river- ine/estuary systems except in some severely
contami- nated locations, such as in the NW Mediterranean sediments from the Rhone
Prodelta, Spain. (Table 2). Chlordane concentrations were also higher than those
reported from other locations except for the sediments from Washington, DC
area. In comparison, the con- tamination of sediments in the Alexandria
Harbour by PCBs, DDTs and chlordanes appeared to be high on a worldwide basis.
In order to determine the sources of the observed contaminants, intense localized
sampling and analysis of effluents and runoff patterns would be needed. To
determine sediments quality, bioassays of sediments at suspected sites should
be conducted to directly assess the potential for biological impacts.

Acknowledgements

Analytical support by the laboratory staff at Geo- chemical and

Environmental Research Group, Texas AM University is appreciated. We
thank Dr. A.R. Mostafa for help during the sampling activities. A.O. Barakat
is grateful to the Fulbright Foundation for a research fellowship.

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