Fate and impact of antibiotics and pesticides used in marine aquaculture: An emergent threat to the coastal ocean

Abstract

Chile, as the second largest salmon farming country in the world, reports the highest use of antibiotics and pesticides, which can be harmful to both the environment and humans. This study sought to understand the dynamics and fate of antibiotics throughout the Puyuhaupi Fjord and to understand the partitioning behavior of the antibiotics florfenicol and flumequine through adsorption experiments that simulate the average temperature of the fjord. In addition, the occurrence of deltamethrin and cypermethrin in total suspended solids and filtering benthic organisms (bivalves and sponges) in the Puyuhuapi Fjord was evaluated. Finally, an experiment of respiration in the water column and marine sediments obtained in an area without aquaculture activity (Banyuls Bay, France) was developed to evaluate if the presence of antibiotics and pesticides can affect the degradation process of organic material, through changes in community respiration and remineralized components. Our results show low concentrations of florfenicol (from trace to 23.1 ng L-1) and flumequine (trace level) detected after 180 and 360 days (respectively) since their last medication at a distance between 2 and 23 km from the culture sites. The fugacity model used in our study area, together with the decay model, predicts that flumequine can remain in sediments for more than two months at sub-minimum inhibition concentrations (sub-MIC). The values of the partition constants Kd and KOC, obtained by bacth experiments, suggest that the adsorption capacity of flumequine is twice that of florfenicol (Table 2, section 3.2), implying that flumequine has a greater tendency to be adsorbed and absorbed by sediments. Very low concentrations of deltamethrin were detected in total suspended solids (0.01 to 0.05 ng L-1), which value would not have an effect on organisms (NOEC, LC50 and EC50) or at the ecological level (NOEAEC), which may come from sediment resuspension or external input from adjacent areas with active salmon culture centers. Preliminary results from the community breathing experiments suggest decreases in activity and/or changes in the biological component, especially in the bacterial community, since some differences in parameters such as dissolved organic carbon, ammonium, and nutrients are observed.