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Project properties |
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| Title | Assessing risks of fishing lead for aquatic life |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | variable |
| Supervisor(s) | Edwin Peeters (AEW)
Noel Diepens (ERA) Ivo Roessink (ERA) |
| Examiner(s) | Edwin Peeters |
| Contact info | edwin.peeters@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2021/06/25 |
| End date | 2022/04/01 |
| Description | Fisherman use lead sinkers to weigh down the lines and on a yearly basis a considerable amount of lead sinkers gets lost and enters in surface waters. But what about toxic risks of this 'fisherman’s lead'? A literature study will be performed to find out what is already known about effects of lead on aquatic (wild)life. In this study, not only lead sinkers will be taken into account but also lead shot from hunting activities. Besides direct effects and toxicity (PNEC), this project will also focus on the risk of ingestion and subsequent chemical transformations of lead in stomach/intestines. These environments are usually acid which promotes solubility of lead. Dedicated laboratory experiments can be developed to investigate whether ingestion by macroinvertebrates occurs. In addition, monitoring data from Dutch surface waters may be analysed to gain insight in actual occurring lead concentrations. This information can be compared with toxicity thresholds to assess the potential risk of lead sinkers in aquatic environments. |
| Used skills | affinity with data analyses, laboratorium skills. literature skills |
| Requirements | basic knowledge on ecotoxicology |