Seasonal characteristics of water and sediment qualities and potential effects of the freshwater discharge from a small tide embankment interior in a coastal area in Goheung county were investigated from May to September in 2012. Chemical oxygen demand values (COD) were mostly higher than 2 mg/L in summer ebb tide, which exceed the standard value of water quality criteria II of acceptable level for aquaculture activities. Nitrogen and phosphorus were found as the limiting nutrients for algae growth in summer and fall and in spring, respectively. Nitrogen was the limiting nutrient for diatom growth in the whole studied period. The sudden high values of COD, ammonia, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) were found in water sample collected from station 5 which located in front of the tide embankment sluice gate during spring ebb tide. The freshwater discharge form the tide embankment interior maybe affected the survey areas during a short time interval. Mean values of eutrophication index of the surveyed coastal region in spring, summer and fall were all bigger than 1. Water quality was mostly considered at level II which acceptable for aquaculture activities. Sediment quality in this study was generally in the range of standard for fisheries environment.

• Nguyen Hoang Lam(College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Chonnam National University)
• Min-Seok Jang(College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Chonnam National University)
• Hyeon-Seo Cho(College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Chonnam National University) Corresponding Author