Antifouling paint booster biocide contamination in UK marine sediments

The proposed International Maritime Organization (IMO) ban on tributyltin ( TBT) as an antifouling paint biocide, will raise the inevitability of the i ncreased use of alternative paints containing copper and organic booster bi ocides, Although the fate of TBT in marine sediments has been extensively s tudied, very little work has been performed to assess the accumulation of o rganic booster biocides in sediments. A survey was conducted to determine c oncentrations of TBT, Irgarol 1051, the Irgarol 1051 metabolite GS26575 (2- (tert-butylamino)-4-amino-6-(methylthio)-1,3,5-triazine; also referred to a s M1) and diuron in coastal and off-shore sediments. TBT was consistently d etermined at the highest concentrations and was detected in all sediments c ollected from Southampton Water, UK, along with the TBT degradation product dibutyltin (DBT). Irgarol 1051 was detected (0.01-0.11 mu g/g) in some sed iments collected from marinas, where high concentrations of these compounds have been measured in surface waters, The Irgarol 1051 metabolite 2-methyl thio-4-tert-butylamino-6-amino-s-triazine (M1/GS26575) was only detected at a few locations at concentrations < 0.001 mu g/g, although higher concentr ations were determined in surface, waters (13-99 ng l(-1)). Diuron, thought to be present in the form of antifouling paint particles, was determined a t a concentration of 1,4 mu g/g in an enclosed marina, All analytes were fo und to be below the limit of detection in the sediments collected off-shore . The potential accumulation in sediments of the other two booster biocides currently used in the UK, zinc pyrithione and dichlofluanid, are also disc ussed. Crown Copyright (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.