TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of contaminant concentrations in sediments, fish and mussels sampled from the North Atlantic and European regional seas within the ICON project
AU - Robinson, Craig D.
AU - Webster, Lynda
AU - Martínez-Gómez, Concepción
AU - Burgeot, Thierry
AU - Gubbins, Matthew J.
AU - Thain, John E.
AU - Vethaak, A. Dick
AU - McIntosh, Alistair D.
AU - Hylland, Ketil
PY - 2017/3
Y1 - 2017/3
N2 - 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., in this issue) 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.
AB - 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., in this issue) 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.
KW - Baltic Sea
KW - Environmental monitoring
KW - ICES
KW - Integrated assessment
KW - Mediterranean Sea
KW - North Atlantic
KW - North Sea
KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
KW - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
KW - Trace metals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84964626340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84964626340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.04.005
DO - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.04.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 27112302
AN - SCOPUS:84964626340
SN - 0141-1136
VL - 124
SP - 21
EP - 31
JO - Marine Environmental Research
JF - Marine Environmental Research
ER -