Metals in the marine environment

The impact of metals in the sea are important to understand at a variety of scales and functions – from their role in normal biological activity as well as in the role of marine pollutants. When I was an undergraduate I clearly remember doing project work on trace metal pollution in the marine environment. One of the key journals I referred to was the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (JMBA) and I became familiar with Restronguet Creek in Cornwall, UK, even though (at that time), I had never visited it. The industrial history of mining in Cornwall has had a long-lasting impact on several estuaries in the area but unusually these sites have endured few other anthropogenic interventions. In his review Rainbow (2020) highlights the opportunities this unique situation presents for ecotoxicological research and the potential use of Cornish estuaries (including the Carnon estuary and Restronguet Creek) as living laboratories.