Assessment of contaminant concentrations in sediments, fish and mussels sampled from the North Atlantic and European regional seas within the ICON project

Type Article
Date 2017-03
Language English
Author(s) Robinson Craig D.1, Webster Lynda1, Martinez-Gomez Concepcion2, Burgeot Thierry3, Gubbins Matthew J.1, Thain John E.4, Vethaak A. Dick5, 6, McIntosh Alistair D.1, Hylland Ketil7
Affiliation(s) 1 : Marine Scotland Sci, Marine Lab, 375 Victoria Rd, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, Scotland.
2 : Oceanog Ctr Murcia, IEO, Varadero 1,POB 22, Murcia 30740, Spain.
3 : IFREMER, Lab Ecotoxicol, Rue Ile Yeu,BP 21105, F-44311 Nantes 03, France.
4 : Cefas, Weymouth Lab, Barrack Rd, Weymouth DT4 8UB, Dorset, England.
5 : Deltares, Marine & Coastal Syst, POB 177, NL-2600 MH Delft, Netherlands.
6 : Vrije Univ Amsterdam, Inst Environm Studies, Boelelaan 1087, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.
7 : Univ Oslo, Dept Biosci, POB 1066, N-0316 Oslo, Norway.
Source Marine Environmental Research (0141-1136) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2017-03 , Vol. 124 , P. 21-31
DOI 10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.04.005
WOS© Times Cited 33
Note The ICON Project (the trans-European research project on field studies related to a large-scale sampling and monitoring
Keyword(s) Integrated assessment, ICES, North Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Trace metals, Environmental monitoring
Abstract 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.
Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Author's final draft 30 541 KB Open access
603 KB Access on demand
11 2 MB Access on demand
Top of the page

How to cite 

Robinson Craig D., Webster Lynda, Martinez-Gomez Concepcion, Burgeot Thierry, Gubbins Matthew J., Thain John E., Vethaak A. Dick, McIntosh Alistair D., Hylland Ketil (2017). Assessment of contaminant concentrations in sediments, fish and mussels sampled from the North Atlantic and European regional seas within the ICON project. Marine Environmental Research, 124, 21-31. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.04.005 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00324/43520/