Historic and contemporary contamination in the marine environment of Kuwait: An overview

•Review of studies reporting levels of contaminants in Kuwait’s marine environment.•Concentrations of contaminants low compared to other industrialised regions.•Sediment contamination hotspots associated with point sources of industrial input.•PAHs in marine biota within allowable concentrations in relation to public health.•Concentrations of As and Hg in selected species exceed food safety guidelines. The rapid expansion of industry, along with previous pollution events linked to conflicts in the region, have led to a variety of contaminants being inadvertently or deliberately discharged into Kuwait’s marine environment. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace metals, from the petrochemical industry, and contaminated brine from the region’s desalination industries. The present paper has reviewed over 60 studies that have reported the levels of contaminants, including PAHs, metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) present in seawater, sediment and representative marine organisms. Most of the reviewed literature confirmed that while Kuwait’s marine environment has been subjected to a wide array of pollution events, the actual levels of contamination remains relatively low. However, sediment contamination hotspots associated with point sources of industrial contamination, such as originating from the Shuaiba industrial area, do exist at a number of locations around the coast.