Monitoring Chemical Pollution in Europe’s Seas: Programmes, practices and priorities for research

This report has been produced by the Marine Board Working Group on Existing and Emerging Chemical Pollutants (WGPOL) first convened in 2008 and tasked to examine the assessment and monitoring of existing and emerging chemicals in the European marine and coastal environment. The Working Group considered (i) existing monitoring/assessment frameworks; (ii) current monitoring practices; and (iii) new and emerging chemicals of concern and the mechanisms used to include them in current monitoring programmes. The primary conclusions and recommendations of this position paper are: 1. Fully implement state of the art environmental risk assessment procedures (combining exposure and effect assessment) to evaluate the full impact of chemical substances on the different compartments of coastal and open sea systems. 2. Further improve the coordination, cooperation and harmonization between existing monitoring efforts and those under development, to avoid duplication of effort, loss of expertise and a reduced willingness to fulfil the obligations towards regional conventions. 3. Ensure that the development and implementation of monitoring programmes for the assessment of chemicals in marine and coastal environment are based on a science-based and dynamic process. 4. Apply more resources targeted at developing appropriate approaches, tools and practices (education and training) to improve the acquisition and management of monitoring data. In addition to the above main recommendations, two further recommendations have been identified on the basis of two specific case studies which form part of this paper and which focus on the release, effects and monitoring of (i) hydrophobic and insoluble chemicals in the marine environment from merchant shipping; and (ii) chemicals released by the offshore oil-industry in the North Sea. These case studies highlighted the need to: 5. Develop a consistent, pan-European or regional (legal) framework/regulation which covers the activities of the oil and gas industry at sea. At the same time, more information and research is needed on the release and the effects of chemicals arising from offshore oil and gas activities. 6. Develop and apply state-of-the-art environmental risk assessment procedures (combining exposure and effect assessments, including on human health) to evaluate the impact of noxious liquid substances listed under MARPOL Annex II on the different compartments in coastal and open sea ecosystems

Hydrocarbon Contamination Decreases Mating Success in a Marine Planktonic Copepod

The mating behavior and the mating success of copepods rely on chemoreception to locate and track a sexual partner. However, the potential impact of the water-soluble fraction of hydrocarbons on these aspects of copepod reproduction has never been tested despite the widely acknowledged acute chemosensory abilities of copepods. I examined whether three concentrations of the water-soluble fraction of diesel oil (0.01%, 0.1% and 1%) impacts (i) the swimming behavior of both adult males and females of the widespread calanoid copepod Temora longcornis, and (ii) the ability of males to locate, track and mate with females. The three concentrations of the water-soluble fraction of diesel oil (WSF) significantly and non-significantly affect female and male swimming velocities, respectively. In contrast, both the complexity of male and female swimming paths significantly decreased with increasing WSF concentrations, hence suggesting a sex-specific sensitivity to WSF contaminated seawater. In addition, the three WSF concentrations impacted both T. longicornis mating behavior and mating success. Specifically, the ability of males to detect female pheromone trails, to accurately follow trails and to successfully track a female significantly decreased with increasing WSF concentrations. This led to a significant decrease in contact and capture rates from control to WSF contaminated seawater. These results indicate that hydrocarbon contamination of seawater decreases the ability of male copepods to detect and track a female, hence suggest an overall impact on population fitness and dynamics

Interspecific Hybridization Increased in Congeneric Flatfishes after the Prestige Oil Spill

Marine species with relatively low migratory capacity are threatened by habitat alterations derived from human activities. In November 2002 the tanker Prestige sank off the Spanish northwest coast releasing 70,000 tons of fuel and damaging biota in the area. Despite efforts to clean the damaged areas, fuel remnants have affected marine species over the last nine years. This study is focused on two flatfish, Lepidorhombus boscii (four-spotted megrim) and L. whiffiagonis (megrim), whose spawning areas are located at the edge of the continental platform. We have analyzed megrim samples from North Spanish and French waters obtained before and after the oil spill. Genotypes at the nuclear marker 5S rDNA indicate a significant increase in interspecific hybridization after the Prestige accident, likely due to forced spawning overlap. The mitochondrial D-Loop region was employed for determining the direction of hybrid crosses, which were most frequently L. boscii female x L. whiffiagonis male. Reduced ability of L. boscii females to select conspecific mates would explain such asymmetric hybridization. To our knowledge this is the first time that increased hybridization between fish species can be associated to an oil spill. These results illustrate the potential long-term effect of petrol wastes on wild fish species

Evaluation of artificially-weathered standard fuel oil toxicity by marine invertebrate embryogenesis bioassays

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Assessment of coastal pollution by combined determination of chemical and biochemical markers in Mullus barbatus

12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables.Muscle concentrations of organochlorinated compounds as well as biliary levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites were determined in red mullet Mullus barbatus as a sentinel species for assessing the pollution along the western Mediterranean coast. A battery of biochemical markers‹biotransformation and antioxidant enzymes‹were also measured in liver subcellular fractions to assess exposure to pollutants. Among them, 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity, as well as 7-penthoxyresorufin O-deethylase (PROD) activity and cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) content evidenced strong differences among sampling sites, and a good correlation with the amount of PCBs bioaccumulated by fish. No clear pollution-related response was observed for cytosolic glutathione S-transferase, whereas uridine-diphosphate UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UDPGT) was elevated in fish from polluted sites. Antioxidant enzymes‹superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPX)‹were used to assess oxidative stress. Among them, catalase activity was well related to PCB body burden.This work was supported by the POLTOX Project (Generalitat de Catalunya), the Spanish National Plan for Research (PLANYCIT) under project reference AMB95-1092-CE and the UE Project BIOMAR (ENVIRONMENT Programme) under references EV5V-CT94-0550, and ENV4-CT96-0300, and BEEP ref. ENVK3-CT-2000- 00025.Peer reviewe

Budget of organic and inorganic pollutants in the Doñana National Park (Spain)

We report here an assessment of sources and inputs of organic and inorganic pollutants to the Doñana National Park (SW Spain), one of the finest wetlands in Europe. In the absence of local pollution sources, the occurrence and distribution of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb), organochlorine compounds (DDT and PCBs) and hydrocarbons (both natural and anthropogenic) in different biotic and abiotic compartments of the park are explained in terms of transport processes related to geographical, hydrological and biological factors. In this respect, it has been recognised that drainage waters from the northern opencast-worked polymetallic sulphide deposits constitute a chronic input of heavy metals into the park. Waste waters from olive-oil manufacturing mills in the area may also contribute to the mobilisation of metals towards the park. However, the resulting relative distributions of Zn, Cu and Pb within the park differ from those of mine effluents, indicating a differential transport of these metals through the water systems. Zinc seems to be the best indicator of input from the mining area. Petroleum hydrocarbons enter the park from the SE via the main rivers and tidal sea movements, whereas PAHs, PCBs and DDTs are uniformly distributed at very low levels in surface sediments, indicating a contribution by aeolian transport. Evidence of inefficient recycling of organic matter in the shallow ponds is obtained by the identification of well preserved natural products from local plants and chemical markers of denitrifying bacteria (cyanobacterial markers).Financial support of CAICYT and CSIC is greatfully acknowledged .Peer Reviewe

Response of mussel recruits to pollution from the ‘Prestige’ oil spill along the Galicia coast. A biochemical approach

Postlarval recruits of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis were sampled in February 2003 at 7 localities along the Galicia coast (NW Spain) exhibiting different levels of impact from the ‘Prestige’ oil spill. These localities are important grounds for seed collection used in raft culture. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as different biochemical and ecophysiological variables were determined in mussel tissues, as indicators of the toxic impact of the spilled oil. The following parameters were measured: size frequency distributions and size–weight relationships, survival in air, biochemical composition (proteins, carbohydrates, glycogen and lipids), lipid classes (phospholipids, sterol esters and waxes, triacylglycerols, free fatty acids and sterols), and fatty acid composition. The study determined sub-lethal effects in wild mussel seed populations sampled 3 mo after the oil spill. These effects are shown in the form of survival indices and alterations of lipid metabolism, especially in trygliceride and sterol fractions, as well as in saturated/monounsaturated fatty acid ratios. Monitoring these effects in wild mussel recruits is important for analysing growth, production and biochemical reserve cycle throughout the raft cultivation period and evaluating the capacity of the individuals to repair alterations detected in the juvenile stage.This study was supported by the contract-project PROINSA, Cultivos Marinos-Xunta de Galicia and the project MCYT VIM2003-20096-CO2-01Peer reviewe