Strand, J: Coupling marine monitoring and environmental risk

The highly toxic organotin compounds, mainly tributyltin (TBT), which have been widely used as antifouling agents in ship paints, are a problematic group of hazardous substances causing high risks of adverse effects in the marine environments. This work covers several related field studies of spatial distributions, bioaccumulation and effects in Danish and Arctic waters. The various studies show that high levels of organotins generally occur in the Danish waters. In addition, the amount of field data presented provides an opportunity to compare actual measured concentrations with biological effects of TBT in the marine environment. This includes an approach to derive assessment criteria for TBT, so it is possible to combine TBT concentrations in seawater, sediment and molluscs with the TBT-specific biomarker responses, i.e. imposex and intersex in marine gastropods. The assessment criteria are derived to reflect the objectives within the OSPAR and EU for transitional and open waters. Thereby this work may also be seen as model for integrated environmental risk assessment of other groups of priority hazardous substances.