Publication Abstract

The toxicity of estuarine and coastal waters - scope for optimism?

P. Matthiessen

The first report ofthe National Monitoring Programme (now National Marine Monitoring Programme -NMMP) (NMP 1998) makes generally optimistic reading. Fisheries and wildlife do not appear to be in serious decline due to contaminant effects, and many contaminant concentrations are decreasing. There is little doubt that the major impact on marine ecosystems is caused bythe effects of fishing, and it can be argued that the effects of contaminants at worst are represented by the `noise' in the fisheries data. This view was borne out both by a recent review of the coastal environment by the Environment Agency (EA 1999), and by a comprehensive review of pollution impacts on North Sea fish stocks (Parrett 1998) published by WWF-UK, so it is safe to conclude that it is supported by most sides ofthe pollution debate.

However, there is no doubt that contaminants are causing some polluting effects. The NMP report confined itselfto mentioning only a few biological measures of pollution, but stated that contaminants are significantly stressing some species, especially in estuaries, with acutely toxic waters being present in some. The big question is whether any ofthese effects are causing damage to populations and communities. It was also mentioned that environmental quality standards (EQS) in UK marine waters are generally being met, but this of course does not necessarily imply that everything in the garden in rosy because it ignores the possible effects ofmixtures.

This brief paper fills in a few more facts about pollution in the UK estuarine and coastal environment, and concludes with some ideas about the direction offuture research.

Reference:

P. Matthiessen* (2000) The toxicity of estuarine and coastal waters - scope for optimism? CMS 2000 Coastal Management for Sustainability - Review of 1999 and Future Trends