Heavy metals contamination in fishes (euthynnus affinis and decapterus maruadsi) in Mengabang Telipot beach and Teluk Ketapang beach in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu

Coastal erosion is one of the natural phenomena that occurs from 2 factors, natural factors such as waves or from human activities such as coastal reclamation. This phenomenon needs to be emphasized and taken seriously as it can cause losses due to property damage and also threaten public health factors. Teluk Ketapang Beach and Mengabang Telipot Beach, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu have been selected as study locations where every year they face this phenomenon and experience severe coastal erosion problems even though the beach reclamation has been made. The study has used 2 species of fish namely Euthynnus affinis and Decapterus maruadsi for heavy metal analysis namely Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) which have been caught by small boat fishermen about 5km radius from the shore. The results of the study found that there is an element of presence of heavy metals but it is low and does not exceed 1 mg / kg according to the standards of the Food Act, 1983 which is the average concentration of Cadmium (Cd) of 0.007 mg / kg for Euthynnus affinis and 0.005 mg / kg for Decapterus maruadsi while for Lead (Pb) is 0.015 mg / kg for Euthynnus affinis and 0.010 mg / kg for Decapterus maruadsi. Health risk assessment has also been done assuming that humans eat the fish for 1 day, 3 days or 7 days a week, but the Hazard Index is <1, which has no adverse effects on human health. The findings of this study show that the presence of heavy metals in fish caught along the shores of Teluk Ketapang Beach and Mengabang Telipot Beach is present even in small quantities and it is not impossible to increase if no further monitoring and surveillance is carried out at those locations.