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Contaminants in Europes seas

Moving towards a clean, non-toxic marine environment. This assessment represents a first attempt to map contamination 'problem areas' and 'non-problem areas' at the scale of Europe's seas, while also exploring whether Europe has broken some of the trends for long‑established hazardous substances.

Remediation technologies

The graph shows remediation technologies applied in the surveyed countries as percentages of number of sites per type of treatment

Soil contamination by heavy metals

Concentration of Pb in topsoils (0-25cm)

Overview of contaminants affecting soil and groundwater in Europe

The graph shows an overview of main contaminants affecting soil

Overview of economic activities causing soil contamination in some WCE and SEE countries (pct. of investigated sites)

Overview of progress in management of soil contamination in WCE and some SEE countries

SOER2010-title: Contamited sites in Europe, 2006. The graphs shows the status of identification and clean‑up of contaminated sites in Europe as reported to the European Environment Agency through the Eionet priority data flows on contaminated sites. While trends vary across Europe, it is clear that the remediation of contaminated sites is still a significant undertaking.

Probable problem areas of local contamination in Europe

Concentrations of hazardous substances in fish from the north-east Atlantic and Baltic regions

It should be noted that the lack of consistent or reliable data from the marine conventions or EEA counties inhibits adequate assessment of concentrations and trends of hazardous substances in European marine water

Detailed analysis of industrial and commercial activities causing soil contamination by country

The graph shows a breakdown of the industrial and commercial activities causing soil contamination as % of the number of sites for each branch of activity

HCB background soil concentrations

Modelled hexachlorobenzene (HCB) background soil concentrations in Europe, 1998

Mapping of contamination 'problem'- and 'non-problem' areas in Europe's seas

The map shows the results of classification of Contamination Status using the CHASE+ tool. The contamination status is classified as ‘non-problem areas’ or ‘problem areas’.

Contamination of Europe’s seas

Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000

Late lessons from early warnings is about the gathering of information on the hazards of human economic activities and its use in taking action to better protect both the environment and the health of the species and ecosystems that are dependent on it, and then living with the consequences. The report is based on case studies. The authors of the case studies, all experts in their particular field of environmental, occupational and consumer hazards, were asked to identify the dates of early warnings, to analyse how this information was used, or not used, in reducing hazards, and to describe the resulting costs, benefits and lessons for the future.

State of Europe's seas

The main aim of this report is to assess whether Europe's seas can be considered healthy, clean and undisturbed, and productive. These are three core aspects of the EU's main marine policy instrument — the Marine Strategy Framework Directive — and relate to the condition of marine ecosystems and the human drivers of ecosystem change. This assessment also involves identifying the main sustainability challenges affecting our seas, and how the EU is responding to these challenges. Ultimately, the report argues that EU is not on the path to fulfil its ambition of achieving sustainable use of its seas; although it is fully empowered to do so through the current array of policies and knowledge. This report also discusses how a long-term transition to sustainability could then be secured using the available policies and knowledge.