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Large-scale spatial pollution patterns around the North Sea indicated by coastal bird eggs within an EcoQO programme

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Abstract

To categorize the marine environmental health status, the Oslo and Paris commissions have recently formulated Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs) for many ecological features including the contamination of coastal bird eggs with mercury and organochlorines. In this study, we describe spatial and temporal patterns of egg contamination around the North Sea and compared them to the EcoQOs. Concentrations of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyl (ΣPCB) congeners, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (ΣDDT) and derivatives, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and hexachlorocyclohexane (ΣHCH) isomers were analysed in two tern species (Sterna hirundo and Sterna paradisaea) and Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) eggs collected between 2008 and 2010 in a total of 21 sites in seven countries surrounding the North Sea. Hg, ΣPCB and HCB were highest in the southern sites, while ΣDDT and ΣHCH concentrations were greatest in eggs from the western North Sea and the Elbe estuary. There were rarely any consistent decreases over time for any compounds. In the terns, Hg, HCB and ΣHCH increased at most sites, ΣPCB and ΣDDT in Sweden and Norway. In the Oystercatcher, HCB and ΣHCH increased at more than the half of the sites, ΣPCB, ΣDDT and Hg at several German sites. In the terns, Hg, ΣPCB and ΣDDT exceeded the EcoQO in all, HCB in most years and sites. At most sites, ΣHCH fulfilled the EcoQO in some study years. In the Oystercatcher, Hg, ΣPCB and ΣDDT exceeded the EcoQO in all or most years and sites. HCB and ΣHCH fulfilled the EcoQO in some or all years at most sites. The EcoQO was exceeded most frequently in estuaries. We conclude that EcoQOs are suitable for drawing contamination patterns of the coastal North Sea in an easily understandable manner, offering the opportunity to harmonize the EcoQOs with coordinated environmental monitoring programmes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following for the help with organization, sampling and obtaining licences: Matti Ahlund, Jennifer Best, P. de Boer, Richard Czeck, L. Dijksen, Hubert Farke, Thomas Grünkorn, Bernd Hälterlein, Veit Hennig, Martine van den Heuvel-Greve, Hermann Heyen, G. Kasemir, Martin Kühn, Karsten Laursen, Jürgen Ludwig, D. Lutterop, Harald Nærland, K. Oosterbeek, Gisela and Axel Rohwedder, Kolbjoern Skipnes, Götz Wagenknecht, Lee A. Walker, Marcel van der Weijden, Hermann Wietjes and many other helpers collecting the eggs within the TMAP Wadden Sea area; the National Park Wadden Sea administrations in Tönning and Wilhelmshaven, Germany; NERI Denmark; RIKZ, The Netherlands and RSPB, UK. We acknowledge ICBM-Terramare for the support and cooperation, especially Helmut Hillebrand and Gerd Liebezeit. For the help with drawing figures, preparing tables, data and statistics we thank Katharina Weißenfels. V. Goutner helped with the references. This work and the report was funded by: Common Wadden Sea Secretariate, Wilhelmshaven, Germany; Institute of Avian Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland”, Wilhelmshaven, Germany; National Park Agency Lower Saxony, Wilhelmshaven, Germany; National Park Agency Schleswig-Holstein, Tönning, Germany; Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (RIKZ; currently Centre of Water Management, Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment), and Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries (currently Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation), Den Haag, The Netherlands; Ministry of Environment and Energy, Copenhagen, Denmark; Centre of Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster, UK; Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, Trondheim, Norway; Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden; Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels, Belgium. Three anonymous reviewers helped with their comments to improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Avian Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland”, An der Vogelwarte 21, 26386, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Tobias Dittmann, Peter H. Becker & Ursula Pijanowska

  2. National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management (RIKZ), Postbus 207, 9750 AE, Haren, The Netherlands

    Joop Bakker

  3. Department of Contaminant Research, Swedish Museum of Natural History, P.O. BOX 50007, 104 05, Stockholm, Sweden

    Anders Bignert & Elisabeth Nyberg

  4. NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, UK

    M. Glória Pereira & Richard F. Shore

  5. Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Kliniekstraat 25, 1070, Brussels, Belgium

    Eric Stienen

  6. NLA University College, P.O. Box 74, 5812, Bergen, Norway

    Geir Olav Toft

  7. Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Virchowstr. 1, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Harald Marencic

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  1. Tobias Dittmann
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  2. Peter H. Becker
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  4. Anders Bignert
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  5. Elisabeth Nyberg
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  6. M. Glória Pereira
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  10. Geir Olav Toft
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  11. Harald Marencic
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Correspondence to Tobias Dittmann.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Dittmann, T., Becker, P.H., Bakker, J. et al. Large-scale spatial pollution patterns around the North Sea indicated by coastal bird eggs within an EcoQO programme. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 4060–4072 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1070-2

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