Hazardous substances in fjords and coastal waters - 2010. Levels, trends and effects. Long-term monitoring of environmental quality in Norwegian coastal waters

Abstract

The Norwegian contribution to OSPAR’s Coordinated Environmental Monitoring Programme (CEMP) in 2010 included the monitoring of micropollutants (contaminants) in blue mussel (40 stations), dogwhelk (8 stations), common periwinkle (1 station), cod (11 stations) and flatfish (dab, flounder, plaice, megrim; 8 stations) along the coast of Norway from the Oslofjord and Hvaler region in the southeast to the Varangerfjord in the northeast. The stations are located both in areas with known or presumed point sources of contaminants, in areas of diffuse load of contamination like city areas, and in more remote areas exposed to presumed low and diffuse pollution. The mussel sites include supplementary stations for the Norwegian Index Programme. The results from 2010 supplied data to a total of 1039 time series of selected contaminants or biomarkers. Of these, 280 showed statistically significant trends of which 248 were downwards and 32 upwards. The dominance of downward trends indicates that contamination is decreasing. In 154 cases, concentrations were above what is expected in only diffusely contaminated areas.