APPLICATION OF SEDIMENT QUALITY GUIDELINES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF MANGROVE SURFACE SEDIMENT IN MENGKABONG LAGOON, SABAH, MALAYSIA

There have been numerous sediment quality guidelines developed to monitor the sediments. sedimentquality guidelines are very useful to screen sediment contamination by comparing sediment contaminantconcentration with the corresponding quality guideline, provide useful tools for screening sedimentchemical data to identify pollutants of concern and prioritise problem sites and relatively good predictorsof contaminations. however, these guidelines are chemical specific and do not include biologicalparameters. aquatic ecosystems, including sediments, must be assessed in multiple components(biological data, toxicity, physicochemistry) by using intregrated approaches in order to establish acomplete and comprehensive set of sediment quality guidelines. numerous sediment quality guidelineswashington department of ecology sediment quality guideline, australian and new zealandenvironment and conservation council, swedish environmental sediment quality, screening quickreference table, portuguese legislation on the classification of dredged materials in coastal zones andinterim sediment quality guideline for hong kong) have been applied to the mengkabong lagoonmangrove sediment and discussed. the most appropriate guideline that meets the prioritization criteriaconsistent with international initiatives and regulations is interim sediment quality values for hong kong.the guideline verifies that all the metals are below the interim sediment quality value-low. however,site-specific, biological testing and ecological analysis of exisiting benthics community structure relatedto sediment contamination are needed for final decision making in the case of mengkabong lagoon.