Seasonal Disparities of Human Health Risk and Particle-Bound Metal Characteristics Associated with Atmospheric Particles in a Fishery Harbor

The effects of atmospheric pollution from ship emissions have been considered for several harbors worldwide. The health risk assessment and source apportionment of particle-bound metals in a fishery harbor were investigated in this study. The most abundant metal elements in particulate matter (PM) on all sampling days in three seasons were Fe (280.94 ± 136.93 ng/m³), Al (116.40 ± 71.25 ng/m³), and Zn (110.55 ± 26.70 ng/m³). The ratios of V/Ni were 1.44 ± 0.31, 1.48 ± 0.09 and 1.87 ± 0.06 in PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and PM₁, respectively. Meanwhile, the ratios higher than 1 indicated that fuel oil combustion from ship emission in fishery harbor. The highest deposits of total particle-bound metals in the human respiratory tract were in the head airway (HA), accounting for 76.77 ± 2.29% of the total particle-bound metal concentration, followed by 5.32 ± 0.13% and 2.53 ± 0.15% in the alveolar region (AR) and tracheobronchial (TB) region, respectively. The total cancer risk (CR) of inhalation exposure to local residents exceeded 10⁻⁶. Mean total CR values followed the sequence: autumn (1.24 × 10⁻⁴) > winter (8.53 × 10⁻⁵) > spring (2.77 × 10⁻⁶). Source apportionment of related metal emissions was mobile pollution emissions (vehicle/boat) (37.10–48.92%), metal fumes of arc welding exhaust (19.68–34.42%), spray-painting process (12.34–16.24%), combustion emissions (6.32–13.12%), and metal machining processes (9.04–16.31%) in Singda fishing harbor. These results suggest that proper control of heavy metals from each potential source in fishing harbor areas should be carried out to reduce the carcinogenic risk of adverse health effects.