Anthropogenic pollution of estuaries in south Primorye: a review

Cited data on anthropogenic pollution of the estuaries in south Primorye (northwestern coast of the Japan Sea) are briefly reviewed and analyzed. The estuaries are ranked by concentration of pollutants in the sewage disposed to the rivers and by integrated abiotic index calculated as the sum of toxicity in the bottom sediments and concentration of petrohydrocarbons in water and grounds. By these parameters, the oligohaline estuaries of big rivers as the Razdolnaya and Artemovka have the highest level of pollution, the mesohaline estuaries as the Tesnaya, Gladkaya, and Kievka have the intermediate rank of anthropogenic impact, and the polyhaline estuaries of small rivers as the Sukhodol, Shkotovka, Barabashevka, and Ryazanovka are low polluted. The estuarine ecosystems are generally well-adapted to high variability of environmental factors, and therefore are highly resistant to anthropogenic pollution. There is concluded that, despite of considerable pollution in some cases, dynamics of the estuaries dwellers abundance is determined mainly by natural factors, first of all by the volume of freshwater discharge, the estuarine ecosystems in Primorye function normally, and the state of their biological resources is sufficient. Thus, fishery, aquaculture, and recreations have at present good prospects in the estuaries and adjacent marine and river waters, in parallel with other economic activity, as hydraulic constructions, certainly under condition of all requirements of the nature protection legislation and with ecological monitoring. For these water bodies, technological and economic development can successively coexist with traditional nature management and wildlife preserving.