In order to prevent algae, barnacles and sea poppies from growing on boat bottoms, the hull is painted with antifouling paint each year. Most antifouling paint contains environmentally hazardous, chemically active substances, such as copper. The environmentally hazardous substances then leak into the environment and accumulate in the harbor's bottom sediment. During resuspension through boat traffic and wave action, these substances spread further into the ocean where they may affect other organisms such as fish and algae negatively. In order to detect copper leakage from the boat industry and to increase knowledge about the fate of copper in the sediments on the Swedish west coast our study examined ten ports and marinas along the Swedish west coast and analyzed its copper content in the bottom sediment. In addition, ten bathing areas were investigated as control group. Sediment samples were taken and analyzed in the laboratory for copper content per dry weight of bottom sediment. Laboratory analyses were conducted using the atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Results were analyzed for statistical significance using the IBS SPSS Statistics 24 software. In addition, the measured copper concentration from the various sites were compared with Norwegian copper thresholds in marine waters, as Sweden has no guideline value for the marine environment. The result shows a significant difference (p<0.05) between ports / marinas and bathing areas. Furthermore, a connection between copper concentration in the sediments in marinas and number of berths per marina was found.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-38386 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Sjökvist, Tomas, Kvibling, Frida |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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