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The impact of discharges from seafood processing on southeastern estuaries

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Abstract

A study to determine the impact of seafood packing and processing effluents discharged to southeastern estuarine waters was conducted in July and August of 1979. The environmental impact of current seafood processing wastes on Georgia’s estuaries appears to be minimal when compared with the natural organic load. One large estuary demonstrated a high residual capacity to receive processing effluents without significant change. The BOD load from shrimp thawing, peeling, sorting, and cleaning operations at a large seafood processing plant was shown to be equivalent to the organic material generated by a 302 m2 plot (57 ft×57 ft) of salt marsh. NH4−N levels were greater than, but the same order of magnitude as, natural runoff from marsh land.

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Gates, K.W., Perkins, B.E., EuDaly, J.G. et al. The impact of discharges from seafood processing on southeastern estuaries. Estuaries 8, 244–251 (1985). https://doi.org/10.2307/1352205

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1352205

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