Distribution of Heavy Metals in Sediments at the Commercial and Fishing Ports in Samoa

Abstract—Contamination of heavy metals in coral reefs and coastal areas is a serious ecotoxicological and environmental problem due to direct runoff from anthropogenic wastes, commercial vessels and discharge from industrial effluents which may accumulate in the suspended particulate matter and settle on the bottom sediment. Surface sediment samples were collected from Samoa’s commercial and fishing port and studied for the concentration and distribution of heavy metals. Two heavy metals (Cu, Pb) were detected from each port with some concentration below the permissible maximum concentration of environment quality standard set by the World Health Organization.

Index Terms—Sediments, heavy metals, distribution, Samoa.

T. Imo, F. Latū, V. Vaurasi, and J. Yoshida are with the National University of Samoa, Faculty of Science, Samoa (e-mail: t.imo@nus.edu.ws, f.latu@nus.edu.ws, j.leungwai@nus.edu.ws, v.vaurasi@nus.edu.ws, j.yoshida@nus.edu.ws).
P. Amosa is with the Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University of Otago, NZ (e-mail: saloi@chemistry.otago.ac.nz, pamosa@chemistry.otago.ac.nz).
M. A. Sheikh is with the Centre for Graduate Studies and Research, State University of Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Tanzania (e-mail: m.sheikh@suza.ac.tz).

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Cite:Distribution of Heavy Metals in Sediments at the Commercial and Fishing Ports in Samoa, "T. Imo, F. Latū, V. Vaurasi, J. Yoshida, P. Amosa, and M. A. Sheikh," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 517-521, 2014.

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