Identification of marine specific pollutants, including emerging pollutants, in the framework of theMarine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC)

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is the policy framework for protection of the European Seas. Pollution of the marine environment by chemical substances is one of the considered anthropogenic pressures which needs to be assessed by EU Member States. There is lack of a comprehensive overview of substances released from activities at sea, in particular emerging pollutants which derive from new or growing human activities. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC JRC) is supporting the EU Member States by providing an overview of substances which are released at sea and can potentially cause harm to the marine wildlife. These include releases such as e.g. from shipping, resource exploitation, aquaculture and historical dumping. Specifically substances of potentially emerging concern will be considered. The study consists in the collection and analysis of available information from relevant stakeholders and information sources such as scientific journals, congress and conference proceedings, and technical publications and reports. Numerous stakeholders from the scientific and application fields are being considered as sources of information. The strategy of the information collection effort will be presented. Available georeferenced quantitative data on amounts of chemicals and their concentrations will be presented as well as data on the toxicological properties of the substances and thus the potential impact. Examples of specific substances and the available datasets will be given in the presentation. The geographical scales of contamination will be highlighted. The collected information, for use in the policy framework implementation, will support EU Member States in the prioritization of efforts, strategic planning of monitoring programs and the development of measures for protection of the marine environment.JRC.H.1-Water Resource