engleski

Comparison of prewar and postwar PCB compound levels in fish samples from the Zadar and Dubrovnik coastal areas encompassed by warfare during 1991/1995

The karstic area of Croatia warrants particular ecological attention because of its exceptional sensitivity to technology and hazardous wastes. The territory that was encompassed by warfare during 1991/1995 is in even greater jeopardy due to the unscrupulous destruction of natural resources, infrastructures, homes and enterprises. There are fears and concrete evidence that polychlorinated biphenyls were released into the environment during the warfare. After the war, the proposed priorities for investigation are as follows: Priority 1. Inspection of the terrain at polluted sites and control of the polychlorinated biphenyl pollution levels, with assessment of the subterranean pollution penetration based on the existing hydrogeological data. Priority 2. Monitoring the level of the hazardous chlorinated hydrocarbons (mainly PCBs) generated by warfare in the soil and water at the pumping sites of the Zadar and Šibenik waterworks and the sea around Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik. On the basis of investigations conducted to date (taking into account the geologic characteristics of the terrain, hydrogeologic relationships and water usage), there is speculation regarding the potential hazard from organohalogenated toxicants to the sea around the Zadar and Dubrovnik areas. The aim of this paper is to compare the prewar and postwar PCB compound levels in fish samples from the Zadar and Dubrovnik coastal areas that were encompassed by warfare in 1991/1995. It should be emphasized that all the samples were analyzed from a single analytical group (mostly by the same analyst), using a uniform methodology that had been very successfully intercalibrated during eleven international intercalibration exercises.

Adriatic Sea; chlorinated hydrocarbons; PCB; levels and trends; fish; war damage; karst

nije evidentirano