Environmental impact of mercury discharges in the navigation channel, Lake of Maracaibo

For more than twenty years the strait of Maracaibo and El Tablazo Bay, in the Lake of Maracaibo, have been used as discharge sites for industrial and domestic waters. Annually, the Instituto de Canalizaciones dredges the channel, activity that produces dispersion of contaminants in the water column. In this paper the evaluation of Mercury concentration in interstitial water and sediments from the channel (resuspended material) and water column and sediments in the navigation channel and from nearby ports is done. The results were analyzed in accordance to Venezuela's legislation and international legislation for dredging activities. There is a legal gap in Venezuela's regulation for disposal of dredged material. The Hg concentration on sediments is higher on some points than EPA's regulation for open disposal. The Hg concentration on fish tissues indicate the influence on the trophic chain, that could develop in a health problem in the future.