Butyltins in sediments and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculleatus) from the marinas of the Gulf of Gdansk, Baltic Sea.

Fifty four sediment samples and three pooled samples of whole three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculleatus) collected from four marinas located along the south-western coast of the Gulf of Gdańsk, Baltic Sea, Poland, were examined for butyltins (BTs) i.e., tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT), to understand the degree of pollution and distribution pattern. Total butyltin concentrations in sediments from the marina of the city of Gdynia ranged between 130 and 20,000 ng Sn/g dry wt. with a mean value of 2,900 ng Sn/g. In sediments collected from the marinas located in the area of the Brave Vistula River Channel BT concentrations ranged between 10 to 15,000 ng Sn/g drywt. with a mean values between 500 and 5,500 ng Sn/g, and the innermost sites of each of four marinas were the most polluted. The mean BT concentrations in three-spined stickleback were between 1,500 and 3,100 ng Sn/g wetwt. and the values followed mean concentrations noted in sediments from the corresponding marina. The pleasure yachts are identified as the main source of BT pollution of sediment and fish. Tributyltin was a major form of BTs present in sediments (between 24 and 43%) and in three-spined stickleback (between 54 and 70%), suggesting a very recent use of marine paints containing TBT in pleasure yachts. Evidently at the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea TBT was continuously used in 1997 in marine paints for boats less then 25 m long.