109 research outputs found
Monitoring Chemical Pollution in Europeâs 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
Macrophyta as a vector of contemporary and historical mercury from the marine environment to the trophic web
Bioaccumulation of selected metals in bivalves (Unionidae) and Phragmites australis inhabiting a municipal water reservoir
Organotin compounds in surface sediments of the Southern Baltic coastal zone: a study on the main factors for their accumulation and degradation
Abstract Sediment samples were collected in the Gulf of
GdaĆsk, and the Vistula and Szczecin Lagoonsâall located
in the coastal zone of the Southern Baltic Seaâjust after the
total ban on using harmful organotins in antifouling paints on
ships came into force, to assess their butyltin and phenyltin
contamination extent. Altogether, 26 sampling stations were
chosen to account for different potential exposure to organotin
pollution and environmental conditions: from shallow and
well-oxygenated waters, shipping routes and river mouths,
to deep and anoxic sites. Additionally, the organic carbon
content, pigment content, and grain size of all the sediment
samples were determined, and some parameters of the nearbottom
water (oxygen content, salinity, temperature) were
measured as well. Total concentrations of butyltin compounds
ranged between 2 and 182 ng Sn gâ1 d.w., whereas phenyltins
were below the detection limit. Sediments from the Gulf of
GdaĆsk and Vistula Lagoon were found moderately contaminated
with tributyltin, whereas those from the Szczecin
Lagoon were ranked as highly contaminated. Butyltin degradation
indices prove a recent tributyltin input into the sediments
adjacent to sites used for dumping for dredged harbor
materials and for anchorage in the Gulf of GdaĆsk (where two
big international ports are located), and into those collected in
the Szczecin Lagoon. Essential factors affecting the degradation
and distribution of organotins, based on significant correlations
between butyltins and environmental variables, were
found in the study area
A new bioindicator, shell of Trachycardium lacunosum, and sediment samples to monitors metals (Al, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ni, V, Co, Cr and Cu) in marine environment: The Persian Gulf as a case
Mercury and Chlorinated Pesticides on the Highest Level of the Food Web as Exemplified by Herring from the Southern Baltic and African Penguins from the Zoo
The contribution of heavy metal pollution derived from highway runoff to Guanabara Bay sediments: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil
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