EXPRESSION OF ENZYMATIC BIOMARKER IN FERAL FISH SPECIES FOLLOWING THE HEBEI SPRIT OIL SPILL(TAEAN, KOREA)

Abstract

On December 7 2007, approximately 12,547 kl of mixed crude oils were spilled from the tanker Hebei Spirit into Koreas Western Sea. Water and sediment column concentrations of parent and alkylated polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAH) were initially elevated, but in water these had fallen to reference site levels six weeks after the spill. Tissue alkylated PAH concentrations in the pelagic rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli) and the benthic marbled flounder (Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae) sampled near the spill site were higher than in the same species from an unaffected reference site for up to three weeks after the spill, but then fell to reference site levels; tissue concentrations of parent PAH did not change as a result of the spill. Fish from the oiled site had elevated biliary. PAH metabolite concentrations immediately after the spill; these declined steadily in both species, but were still above reference site concentrations eleven months after the spill. Oiled-site fish showed hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP 1A) induction (CYP 1A mRNA, CYP 1A protein and EROD activity) whose trends closely followed those of biliary PAH metabolite concentrations, implying continuous exposure to PAH, even in the pelagic rockfish. This suggests that even the pelagic rockfish was exposed to PAH for the duration of this monitoring operation, probably though contamination of benthic prey components. Biliary PAH metabolites and CYP1A induction have persisted for longer than did similar responses following the Sea Empress and (at least for pelagic fish) Braer spills. Brain acetylcholinesterase activity was not related to oil exposure.