MONITORING HEAVY-METALS IN THE GULF OF THAILAND USING MUSSEL WATCH APPROACH

Concentration of zinc, manganese, copper, chromium, nickel and cadmium were determined in the whole soft parts of the mussel, Perna viridis, collected along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Mussels were sampl ed from 10 locations, during 1989-1990, following an earlier study in 1986. The trends of accumulations of investigated metals in the mussel were not higher than the previous study, except for the concentration of manganese and nickel. The levels of manganese and nickel in the mu ssel in 1989 and in 1990 were much higher than those reported previous ly for 1986. In addition, the level of cadmium, manganese and chromium in mussels from the western coast of the Gulf was higher than that fr om the other parts of the Gulf. However, the levels of such metals wer e within the acceptable limits with respect to the public health stand ards.