Suchergebnisse

Understanding the status of contaminants in the marine environment is a requirement of European Union Directives and the Regional Seas Conventions, so that measures to reduce pollution can be identified and their efficacy assessed. The international ICON workshop (Hylland et al., 2017) was developed in order to test an integrated approach to assessing both contaminant concentrations and their effects. This paper describes and assesses the concentrations of trace metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments, mussels, and fish collected from estuarine, coastal and offshore waters from Iceland to the Mediterranean Sea. For organic contaminants, concentrations progressively increased from Iceland, to the offshore North Sea, to the coastal seas, and were highest in estuaries. Metals had a more complex distribution, reflecting local anthropogenic inputs, natural sources and hydrological conditions. Use of internationally recognised assessment criteria indicated that at no site were concentrations of all contaminants at background and that concentrations of some contaminants were of significant concern in all areas, except the central North Sea. ; Postprint ; 1,953

This study investigated whether general stress biomarkers in mussels can be applied as common first-tier biomarkers in regional biomonitoring programmes in the North Sea (including Iceland) and western Mediterranean Sea. Stress on Stress (SoS) and lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) biomarkers were analysed in resident mussels (Mytilus sp.) from 8 coastal sites and in transplanted mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from two Spanish Mediterranean coastal sites. The assessment of results, as input to pollution monitoring strategies, was performed jointly for LMS and SoS data from the two regions. Contaminant body burden of the mussels was compared with biomarker results. The results demonstrated that these two general and non-expensive stress biomarkers in mussel can be applied throughout European waters, providing a cost-effective and harmonised approach to screen contaminant-related biological effects within the framework of wide-scale pollution biomonitoring programmes, such as that proposed by the European Union, i.e. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. ; Postprint ; 1,953

Many maritime countries in Europe have implemented marine environmental monitoring programmes which include the measurement of chemical contaminants and related biological effects. How best to integrate data obtained in these two types of monitoring into meaningful assessments has been the subject of recent efforts by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Expert Groups. Work within these groups has concentrated on defining a core set of chemical and biological endpoints that can be used across maritime areas, defining confounding factors, supporting parameters and protocols for measurement. The framework comprised markers for concentrations of, exposure to and effects from, contaminants. Most importantly, assessment criteria for biological effect measurements have been set and the framework suggests how these measurements can be used in an integrated manner alongside contaminant measurements in biota, sediments and potentially water. Output from this process resulted in OSPAR Commission (www.ospar.org) guidelines that were adopted in 2012 on a trial basis for a period of 3 years. The developed assessment framework can furthermore provide a suitable approach for the assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) for Descriptor 8 of the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). ; Postprint ; 1,953