Chapter 26 Critical assessment of international marine monitoring programmes for biological effects of contaminants in the North-East Atlantic area

Abstract

Abstract This chapter describes the use of techniques for monitoring the biological effects of contaminants by means of international environmental monitoring programmes in the north-east Atlantic, with particular focus on the work of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) and the Oslo and Paris Commission (OSPAR). Some biological monitoring has been included in such programmes since they began in the early 1980s, but the development and introduction of these techniques has lagged behind the use of chemical analytical methods.Even today, chemical and biological monitoring have not been fully integrated in the programmes of most north-east Atlantic coastal states, despite encouragement from international organisations such as OSPAR and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). This has led to a number of significant shortcomings in our understanding of marine environmental quality: (1) Much data obtained on the presence of contaminants in northeast Atlantic marine ecosystems has been impossible to interpret reliably in terms of likely biological impacts, either on individuals or on populations; (2) Coverage of the area by biological monitoring has been very patchy, with the best data being available from the North Sea; (3) We have, as yet, little information on whether reductions in the concentrations of many marine contaminants are being reflected in similar reductions in their effects on wildlife; (4) With some exceptions, we have rarely obtained data which diagnose the chemical causes of observed biological effects; (5) In broad terms, it has not yet been possible to use data on the effects of contaminants on individual organisms to make confident predictions about possible ecosystem-level impacts. Having said all that, there is no doubt that both organic and inorganic contaminants are having undesirable effects on marine organisms in many areas. Such effects range from mortality to subtle impacts on reproduction and normal endocrine function, and are particularly marked in many urbanised estuaries and other semi-enclosed marine waters. Effects of persistent substances have also been observed further afield in coastal and offshore organisms, particularly in those associated with sediments or higher trophic levels where such contaminants tend to accumulate. Some of these effects are known to have caused population declines or impoverished communities in some instances, but it is currently not possible to state with confidence that present contaminant inputs to the North-east Atlantic are a threat to the marine ecosystem as a whole. The chapter concludes with a number of recommendations which address the problems identified in marine biological effects monitoring programmes.