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yet ready for use in practical monitoring purposes, some biomarkers (e.g., body burden of
trace metals/trace organics in mussels and barnacles; lysosomal integrity in mussels) have
become well established and have already been adopted in major national monitoring pro-
grams by regulatory authorities in Europe and North America, as discussed above. Owing
to large differences in physical environments and marine/freshwater biota, biomarkers or
biological indicators proven effective in the temperate regions of Europe and the United
States may not necessarily be applicable to Asia (a mainly tropical and subtropical envi-
ronment). It is therefore necessary to design appropriate laboratory and field studies to val-
idate and quantify responses of selected biomarkers to pollution in the local environment.
In the past decade, there have been increasing numbers of research studies led by ter-
tiary institutions/research centers/nongovernment organizations on the development
and validation of biomarkers for monitoring water pollution in Asia. Table 15.3 provides a
selection of large-scale biomarker-based monitoring programs conducted in some Asian
countries/regions using local sentinel species (such as mussels and fish). The Asia-Pacific
Mussel Watch, a comprehensive monitoring program jointly participated in by many ter-
tiary institutions and government agencies from 10 Asian countries, was conducted to
monitor the levels of organic pollutants [e.g., TBT, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE),
and organochlorines] in mussels (
Perna viridis
,
Mytilus edulis
) sampled along coastal areas
(Table 15.3). Until now, the use of biomarker-based monitoring has been limited only to
experimental trials largely on an
ad hoc
basis. Biomarkers have not been used in Asian
countries for routine environmental monitoring and regulatory purposes. There is no
statutory requirement on the use of biomarkers in formulating water quality objectives/
guidelines and/or environmental risk assessment, and respective governments have no
specific programs for these initiatives.
Table 15.4 summarizes current water quality monitoring practices adopted by Asian
countries/regions, including Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Taiwan,
Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Lao People's
Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, and Cambodia. In general, national-level monitor-
ing programs have been well established for environmental management by the respec-
tive governments in most Asian countries, except for a few developing ones. However,
monitoring and assessments of environmental quality are largely based on physicochem-
ical data and the levels of hazardous chemicals in water and sediment samples. The appli-
cation of biomarkers for water quality monitoring is significantly lagging behind their
counterparts in European Countries and the North American continent.
15.4.1 Hong Kong
Since the 1980s, water monitoring programs have been regularly conducted by the
Environmental Protection Department (EPD), mainly focused on physicochemical
parameters of marine waters and sediments. Biological monitoring was restricted to the
monitoring of sewage bacteria and phytoplankton as part of the general marine water
monitoring. Between 2001 and 2003, the EPD led a consultant study on the “Development
of a Biological Indicator System for Monitoring Marine Pollution,” with the objectives of
choosing a set of biomarkers/bioindicators that can be used to track the biological effects
of pollution in Hong Kong waters. In 2004-2010, the EPD launched a biomonitoring pro-
gram using a battery of selected biomarkers including EROD activity, histopathology, and
condition factor (i.e., weight/length ratio) for fish (
Siganus oramin
and
Leiognathus breviro-
stris
), lysosomal integrity for the mussel
Perna viridis
, and relative penis size index (TBT
biomarker) for the whelk
Thais clavigera
(Table 15.3; HKEPD 2007), to monitor the pollution
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