Sea bed sediment maps for the 4 marine sub-regions prepared as part of the initial evaluation of the MSFD (Marine Strategy Framework Directive).

Good Environmental Status assessment (GES) for descriptor 8 (contaminants, D8) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is reached when concentrations of contaminants are at levels not giving rise to pollution effects. It is described by 4 criteria among which the first one focus on the concentration of the contaminants in the environment (criteria 1 of the D8, D8C1). The environmental status for D8 in France includes assessment of contaminant concentrations in sediment, bivalves, fish, birds, mammals to cover the French marine area the continental shelf from the coast line). The 8 tables below present the assessment of the chemical contamination in sediment and bivalves on the coastal area of the 4 French marine subregions for D8 as part of the 2024 GES assessment. These tables report the status and temporal trends of each station x matrice x substance triplet in each of the 4 French marine subregions. Explanation on how to read the cells is given in the “read file”. The environmental assessment for D8 in France can be found in Mauffret al., 2023 (DOI:10.13155/97214). It includes 17 national indicator assessments, 4 OSPAR indicators and integrated assessment in selected assessment units at the level of the criteria 1 and 2. 

ROCCH, the French Chemical Contaminant Monitoring Network,  regularly provides a new official dataset for assessing the chemical quality status of French coastal waters. Concentrations of trace metal elements and organic compounds were measured in samples of marine surface sediments collected in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay, during 3 campaigns over a period of 6 years. Samples of fine sediment material, from 200 to 250 monitoring stations, were freeze-dried and sieved prior to analysis. The Results were submitted to the international database of ICES (for the OSPAR Convention).

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry datasets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, acidity and contaminants. The importance of the selected substances and other parameters relates to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This aggregated dataset contains all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on potential hazardous substances, despite the fact that some data might not be related to pollution (e.g. collected by deep corer). Temperature, salinity and additional parameters are included when available. It covers the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (40W). Data were harmonised and validated by the '‘IFREMER / IDM / SISMER - Scientific Information Systems for the SEA’ in France. The dataset contains water (profiles), sediment (profiles and timeseries) and biota (timeseries). The temporal coverage is 1974–2018 for water measurements, 1966–2014 for sediment measurements and 1979–2021 for biota measurements. Regional datasets concerning contaminants are automatically harvested and the resulting collections are harmonised and validated using ODV Software and following a common methodology for all sea regions ( https://doi.org/10.6092/8b52e8d7-dc92-4305-9337-7634a5cae3f4). Parameter names are based on P01 vocabulary, which relates to BODC Parameter Usage Vocabulary and is available at: https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/search_nvs/P01/. The harmonised dataset can be downloaded as as an ODV spreadsheet, which is composed of a metadata header followed by tab separated values. This spreadsheet can be imported into ODV Software for visualisation (more information can be found at: https://www.seadatanet.org/Software/ODV). In addition, the same dataset is offered also as a txt file in a long/vertical format, in which each P01 measurement is a record line. Additionally, there are a series of columns that split P01 terms into subcomponents (substance, CAS number, matrix...).This transposed format is more adapted to worksheet applications (e.g. LibreOffice Calc).

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, ocean acidification, contaminants and litter. The chosen parameters are relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in particular for descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10. The datasets contain standardized, harmonized and validated data collections from seafloor litter. Datasets concerning seafloor litter data are loaded in a central database after a semi-automated validation phase. Once loaded, a data assessment is performed in order to check data consistency and potential errors are corrected thanks to a feedback loop with data originators. EMODnet seafloor litter data and database are hosted and maintained by ‘Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Division of Oceanography (OGS/NODC)’ from Italy. For seafloor litter, the harmonized datasets contain all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on seafloor litter data, including 12438 CDI records. The temporal range covered is from 2006-10-01 to 2018-08-16. Data are formatted following Guidelines and forms for gathering marine litter data, which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6092/15c0d34c-a01a-4091-91ac-7c4f561ab508. The harmonized datasets can be downloaded as EMODnet Sea-floor litter data format Version 1.0, which is a csv file, tab separated values. The original datasets can be searched and downloaded from EMODnet Chemistry Download Service: https://emodnet-chemistry.maris.nl/search

This product displays the stations where fluoranthene has been measured and the values present in EMODnet Chemistry infrastructure are always above the limit of detection or quantification (LOD/LOQ), i.e quality value equal to 1. It is necessary to take into account that LOD/LOQ can change with time. These products aggregate data by station, producing only one final value for each station (above, below or above/below). EMODnet Chemistry has included the gathering of contaminants data since the beginning of the project in 2009. For the maps for EMODnet Chemistry Phase III, it was requested to plot data per matrix (water,sediment, biota), per biological entity and per chemical substance. The series of relevant map products have been developed according to the criteria D8C1 of the MSFD Directive, specifically focusing on the requirements under the new Commission Decision 2017/848 (17th May 2017). The Commission Decision points to relevant threshold values that are specified in the WFD, as well as relating how these contaminants should be expressed (units and matrix etc.) through the related Directives i.e. Priority substances for Water. EU EQS Directive does not fix any threshold values in sediments. On the contrary Regional Sea Conventions provide some of them, and these values have been taken into account for the development of the visualization products. To produce the maps the following process has been followed: 1. Data collection through SeaDataNet standards (CDI+ODV) 2. Harvesting, harmonization, validation and P01 code decomposition of data 3. SQL query on data sets from point 2 4. Production of map with each point representing at least one record that match the criteria The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols. Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data : • For water: contaminants in the dissolved phase; • For sediment: data on total sediment (regardless of size class) or size class < 2000 μm • For biota: contaminant data will focus on molluscs, on fish (only in the muscle), and on crustaceans • Exclusion of data values equal to 0

This product displays for Anthracene, median values of the last 6 available years that have been measured per matrix and are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2022. The median values ranges are derived from the following percentiles: 0-25%, 25-75%, 75-90%, >90%. Only "good data" are used, namely data with Quality Flag=1, 2, 6, Q (SeaDataNet Quality Flag schema). For water, only surface values are used (0-15 m), for sediment and biota data at all depths are used.

This product displays for Cadmium, positions with values counts that have been measured per matrix for each year and are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2022. The product displays positions for every available year.

This product displays for Anthracene, positions with values counts that have been measured per matrix for each year and are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2024. The product displays positions for every available year.

This product displays for Lead, positions with values counts that have been measured per matrix for each year and are present in EMODnet regional contaminants aggregated datasets, v2022. The product displays positions for every available year.