• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.655-661
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• 2015

This study intends to evaluate the effect of nitric acid($HNO_3$) spill accidents on the marine ecosystem, while $HNO_3$ is known as one of the typical HNS. For this purpose, we performed (1) the growth inhibition test by using phytoplankton(Skeletonema costatum), (2) acute and chronic toxicity test by using invertebrate(Brachionus plicatilis and Monocorphium acherusicum), (3) fish(Cyprinodon variegatus) and (4) bacteria(Vibrio fischeri). In these tests, we observed the (1) pH changes induced by the nitric acid spill and (2) changes in nitrate($NO_3$) concentration disassociated from nitric acid after the accident, respectively. The toxicity test result on pH changes induced by $HNO_3$ shows that the no observed effect concentration(NOEC), lowest observed effect concentration(LOEC) and 50 % effect concentration($72h-EC_{50}$) values of M. acherusicum are pH 7 (0.3 mM), pH 5(1.1 mM) and pH 5.2(1.4 mM), respectively, indicating that M. acherusicum is the most sensitive species. The chronic toxicity test (population growth rate test) on $NO_3{^-}$ of B. plicatilis show that the NOEC, LOEC and $96h-EC_{50}$ are 5.9 mM, 11.8 mM and 32.6 mM, respectively, indicating that B. plicatilis is the most sensitive species. In conclusion, toxic effecst on the marine organism caused by the nitric acid spill accident is determined to be so slightly except for the most adjacent area of the ship in pH scale and such concentration of nitrate, to the extent of directly influencing the survival and reproduction of the marine organism, is determined practically not to be applicable in the typical accidents in the sea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.3 s.59
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• pp.293-303
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• 2005

Japanese medaka, Oryzias latipes is widely distributed in the North East Asia including Korea, Japan and east China, and commonly used for freshwater toxicity tests and cytotoxicological studies worldwide. In this study, a series of experiments were conducted to identify the potential of the fish as a standard test species for saltwater toxicity evaluation such as marine receiving waters, ocean-dumped materials and sediment pore waters etc. Hatching, growth and mortality rates of the fish were estimated with the wide ranges of salinity from freshwater to seawater (35 psu). Direct exposure of the fertilized eggs in freshwater to the wide ranges of salinity (from 0 to 35 psu) without pre- acclimation to the saltwater revealed no significant differences in hatching rates by salinities (p =0.24). On the other hand, medaka larvae hatched in freshwater and exposed to saltwater directly showed high mortality at > 25 psu treatment groups (p < 0.0001). However, there was no significant difference in mortality of medaka larvae hatched in 13.8 and 14.2 psu at the wide ranges of salinities ($0\~35$ psu). Growth rates of medaka larvae hatched in the above two salinities showed no differences in body length either from 0 to 35 psu treatment groups (p =0.64 for 13.8 psu group and p=0.32 for 14.2 psu group). The number of gill chloride cell in medaka larvae sharply increased when the larvae were exposed to high salinity. Reference tests with zinc chloride revealed 96h $LC_{50}=8.84(7.19\~10.87)mg\;L^{-1}$ using 7~10 day old medaka larvae. These were comparable or better sensitivity in comparison with the other standard test species such as North American sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus. Based on the results of these experiments, hatching rates and larvalmortality of medaka must be good toxicity parameters for seawater bioassay and the species seems to be a good standard species for both the freshwater and seawater toxicity test.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.203-214
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• 2018

Ballast water treated by sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) injection method in ballast water management system (BWMS) contains reactive bromine, chlorine species and disinfection by-products (DBPs). In this study, we conducted whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing and ecological risk assessment (ERA) to investigate its ecotoxicological effects on the marine environment. WET testing was carried out for eight marine and fresh water organisms, i.e. diatom, Skeletonema costatum, Navicula pelliculosa, green algae, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, Brachionus calyciflorus and fish, Cyprinodon variegatus, Pimephales promelas. The WET test revealed that diatom and green algae were the only organisms that showed apparent toxicity to the effluent; it showed no observed effect concentration (NOEC), lowest observable effect concentration (LOEC) and effect concentration of 50 % (EC50) values of 25.0 %, 50.0 % and over 100.0 %, respectively, in seawater conditions. In contrast, rotifer and fish showed no toxicities to the effluent in the all salinity conditions. Meanwhile, chemical analysis revealed that the BWMS effluent contained total of 25 DBPs such as bromate, isocyanuric acid, formaldehyde, chloropicrin, trihalomethanes (THMs), halogenated acetonitriles (HANs) and halogenated acetic acids (HAAs). Based on ERA, the 25 DBPs were not considered to have persistency, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT) properties. The ratio of predicted environmental concentration (PEC) to predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) of the all DBPs did not exceed 1.0 for general harbour environments, but isocyanuric acid, tribromomethane, chloropicrin and monochloroacetic acid exceed 1.0 for near ship environments. However, when NOEC (25.0%) of the WET test results where actual effluent was applied, it was concluded that the NaDCC injection method did not have unacceptable ecological risks to the general harbor including near ship environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2006

Since the usage of tributyltin(TBT) has been banned, many chemicals including Sea-Nine 211, Cu-pyrithione, and Zn-pyrithione were developed to use as antifouling agents for ships and coastal structures. However, the toxicity of these antifouling chemicals have not been systematically evaluated in ecotoxicological and biological studies. In this study, we investigated the effect of four antifouling substances on survival of estuarine rockfish, Sebastes schlegeli and amphipod, Monocorophium acherusicum. Survival of S. schlegeli and M. acherusicum during the 96-h exposure period were used to estimate the median lethal concentrations(LC50s) of test chemicals for each test species. Among antifouling agents, Cu-pyrithione($56{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}$;96-h LC50) was most toxic to S. schlegeli, followed by $TBT(73{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}),\;Sea-Nine(184{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1})\;and\;Zn-pyrithione(l707{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1})$, while TBT($26{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}$) was most toxic to M. acherusicum followed by Sea-Nine($49{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}$), Cu-pyrithione($119{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}$) and Zn-pyrithione($334{\mu}g{\cdot}1^{-1}$). Effect concentrations of the antifouling chemicals estimated in this study can be used when assessing the potential risks of these substances, of which usage is increasing in the coastal environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.672-678
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• 2015

The types of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) being transported by sea in Korea are at about 6,000, HNS transport volume accounts for 19% of total tonnage shipped in Korea, and the increase rate of seaborne HNS trade in Korea is 2.5 times higher than the average increase rate of the world seaborne HNS trade. Reflecting this trend, HNS spill incidents have been frequently reported in Korean waters, and there are increasing social demands to develop HNS management technology for the preparedness, response, post-treatment and restoration in relation to HNS spill incidents at sea. In this study, a risk-based HNS prioritization system was developed and an HNS risk database was built with evaluation indices such as sea transport volume, physicochemical properties, toxicities, persistency, and bioaccumulation. Risk scores for human health and marine environments were calculated by multiplying scores for toxicity and exposure. The top-20 substances in the list of HNS were tabulated, and Aniline was ranked first place, but it needs to be managed not by individuals but by HNS groups with similar score levels. Limitations were identified in obtaining data of chronic toxicity and marine ecotoxicity due to lack of testing data. It is necessary to study on marine ecotoxicological test in the near future. Moreover, the priority list of HNS is expected to be utilized in the development of HNS management technology and the relevant technologies, after the expert's review process and making up for the lack of test data in the current research results.