Abstract:

Tributyltin (TBT) used to be widely used as biocides in antifouling paints, but now has been banned in different degrees due to its harmful effects on marine ecosystems. Based on rich references, this paper analyzed relationship between legislations against TBT and concentrations of TBT in marine sediment. At least 22 countries or areas have legislations against TBT and 59.1% of them are in Europe. Most of the legislations were published before 1991. IMO legislation to ban TBT totally will come into force on September 17, 2008. In the world scale, TBT in sediment did not show significant decrease during 1986 to 2006. In contrast, TBT in sediment was a little higher after 1990s’ than before. It was mainly due to the great development of marine transportations, the limited countries with legislation and the global pollution of TBT. As for the areas with registrations against TBT, TBT in sediment usually did not decrease significantly until 4～5 years later. Partial legislation of TBT had positive effect on controlling TBT pollution in small harbors. However, TBT pollution in sediment got worse in those countries without legislation of TBT in recent years. Due to the lag effect of TBT legislation and the slow degradation of TBT in sediment, it will take more decades for TBT concentrations to decrease in sediment and water, and for a ecosystem to recover effectively. 

Key words: sediment, TBT legislations, imposex, TBT, sediment, TBT legislations, imposex