18 September 2009 -
The illustration demonstrates how environmentally
hazardous substances are dispersed and transformed
in the marine environment. The blue arrows
indicate transport of the substances, and
the back arrows transformation processes.
The Danish National
Environmental Research Institute (NERI),
Aarhus University has published a status
of the occurrence of environmentally hazardous
and radioactive materials and substances
in Danish waters. The status, which forms
part of Denmark’s reporting to the OSPAR
convention on the protection of the North
Atlantic, including the North Sea and the
Kattegat, is based on data collected via
the national monitoring programmes up to
and including 2005.
Thousands of substances
– also naturally occurring substances -
are classified as environmentally hazardous,
but the Danish monitoring programme especially
follows the occurrence and development of
heavy metals, PAHs, chlorinated compounds
such as PCB, DDT and dioxin as well as newer
substances such as brominated flame retardants.
The occurrence of TBT (tributyltin) is also
followed, a substance used until 2003 as
an antifouling agent on the hulls of boats
and ships.
According to senior
researcher Ingela Dahllöf, chief editor
of the status report, precisely with regard
to TBT there has a positive trend has been
identified in recent years.
’We are measuring decreasing
levels of this extremely toxic substance
in the marine environment. Reporting from
the national monitoring program NOVANA later
this year will also demonstrate this positive
trend,’ explains Ingela Dahllöf.
She adds that that since
collection of the data reported to OSPAR
the current monitoring has been supplemented
with additional ’biological effect measurements’
or ‘biomarkers’, where the effects of the
environmentally hazardous substances on
organisms in the marine environment, such
as fish and mussels, are investigated.
‘This report can be
regarded as a summary and a good introduction
to the environmentally hazardous substances
in the marine environment,' she concludes.
Contact: Senior
researcher Ingela Dahllöf
Hazardous and Radioactive Substances in
Danish Marine Waters. Status and Temporal
Trends. Editors: Ingela Dahllöf and
Jesper H. Andersen. 2009. National Environmental
Research Institute, Aarhus University. 116
pp.
