JOURNAL OF THE ARABIAN AQUACULTURE SOCIETY Vol. 8 No 1 Arabian Aquaculture Conference June 2013 © Copyright by the Arabian Aquaculture Society 2013 69 Some Heavy Metals Status in Ashtoum El-Gamil Protected Area Abdelhamid M. Abdelhamid 1 , Manal I. El-Barbary 2 and El-Deweny M.E. Mabrouk 1 1 Dept. of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt 2 Dept. of Fish Pathology, National Institute for Oceanography and Fisheries, Cairo, Egypt. *Corresponding Author ABSTRACT A survey study was conducted on some heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Fe) in water, sediment, and fish samples from Ashtoum El-Gamil protected area during May 2010 to January 2011. Data obtained revealed that there were significant (P≤0.0001) differences among sampling seasons and stations as well as their interactions concerning the levels of heavy metals tested in either water, sediment, or fish collected from this protected area. The elements level took the descending order Zn ≥ Cd ≥ Pb ≥ Fe ≥ Cu in the water, Pb ≥ Fe ≥ Cu ≥ Zn ≥ Cd in the sediment, and Fe ≥ Pb ≥ Zn ≥ Cu ≥ Cd in the fish body samples. Proximate analysis of the tested fish (mullet and tilapia) reflected also significant (P≤0.0001) effects due to sampling seasons and stations and their interactions besides fish species. Some significant correlations were calculated among heavy metals (in water, sediments, and fish) and chemical composition of the fish. Keywords: Protected area, water, sediment, fish, heavy metals. INTRODUCTION Ashtoum El-Gamil and Tenis Island are declared as a protected area by Prime Minister's decree No. 459 / 1988 with an area of about 30 km 2 later was amended with decree No. 2780 /1998 to extend its area to be about 180 km 2 . Ashtoum El- Gamil is located in the western north corner of Lake Manzalah, Egypt including new and old El-Gamil inlets; as well as the historical Tenis Island, with an area of about 8 km 2 , that lies on the south west of Port Said city. The historical Tenis hill surrounded with water at a distance of about 300 m from all sides. Two types of water intrude with the lake: salty water from the Mediterranean, through the two inlets of El-Gamil in the North and fresh water from the South through number of agricultural drainages (such as El-Serw - Hados - Ramses) in addition to sanitary sewage drainages such as Bahr El-Baqar and El-Aninia drainages. Bahr El-Baqar drainage is one of the most important sources of pollution in the lake, as it discharge more than 1.5 million m 3 of wastewater daily, including more than 1.25 million m 3 from greater Cairo. All of these drainages located outside boundaries of Ashtoum El-Gamil protected area and can not be controlled by Ashtoum El-Gamil authority (Abd El-Karim, 2008). One of the important functions of Ashtoum El-Gamil