EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 8: The Marine Environment Figure 8.1  Status of transitional (left) and coastal (right) waters during 2013-2018 by number (Source: EPA) High Good Moderate Poor Bad 23.29% 29.37% 14.18% 6.7% 1.2% 10.22% 26.58% 8.18% 7.9% The chemical status 10 of coastal and marine waters is based on allowable concentrations of certain chemicals and substances. This aims to protect the most sensitive species from direct toxicity, including predators and humans, through secondary poisoning. A smaller group of ‘priority hazardous substances’ are identified in the Priority Substances (2013/39/EU) 11 as uPBT (ubiquitous, persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic). Under the WFD, Irish coastal areas are considered to have acceptable levels of priority substances (EPA, 2019a). Under the MSFD (Descriptors 8 and 9), initial assessment concentrations of contaminants in shellfish and commercial fish are generally above OSPAR background levels; however, they are not high enough to expect adverse effects (DHPLG, 2020). 10 https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/european-waters/water- quality-and-water-assessment/water-assessments/chemical-status-of- surface-water-bodies 11 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013L0039 Topic Box 8.1 TBT contamination in Irish Coastal waters Imposex monitoring to assess the impacts of historical tributyltin (TBT) usage in Ireland has now been under way for around 30 years. Imposex is a disorder of sea snails resulting from the toxic effects of certain marine pollutants. These pollutants cause female sea snails (marine gastropod molluscs) to develop male sex organs. A 2018 assessment concluded that, with a small number of exceptions, there has been a dramatic reduction in TBT contamination around the Irish coast, with almost all locations found to be at, or close to, background levels, and there is little evidence of imposex. This demonstrates that measures taken nationally and internationally to phase out known toxic substances, in this case the use of TBT in anti- fouling paint for marine vessels, can be very effective at reducing marine pollution. Dog whelks, a type of sea snail found on Ireland’s rocky shore. 195