Pollution of the North Sea

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ulrich Förstner studierte Geologie und Mineralogie in Tübingen und arbeitete ab 1972 als Dozent und apl. Professor an der Fakultät für Geowissenschaften der Universität Heidelberg. Von 1982-2005 leitete er den Arbeitsbereich Umweltschutztechnik an der Technischen Universität Hamburg-Harburg. Mit über fünfzig Forschungsprojekten, zahlreichen Mitgliedschaften in nationalen und internationalen Fachgremien und mit 16 Büchern war er an den wesentlichen Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet des Gewässer- und Bodenschutzes seit Ende der sechziger Jahre beteiligt.

This preface is being written at a time of exceptional public interest in the North Sea, following media head lines on toxic algal blooms, the mass mortality of common seals, and concern over pollution levels. These headlines may suggest that pollution of the North Sea is a recent event. This is not the case. Although no data are available (methods simply did not exist), it is safe to assume that emission (both into air and water) of heavy metals already started to increase in the 19th cen tury. The growth of cities and introduction of sewer sys tems led to the discharge of raw sewage and sewage sludge. The introduction of man-made (xenobiotic) organ ic chemicals and their subsequent emission into the North Sea commenced before the second world war. The shallower and coastal areas of the North Sea receive the highest concentrations of these pollutants. Not unexpectedly, these areas - some Norwegian fjords, the Dutch coast, the German Bight - show signs of ecosystem deterioration and eutrophication. A certain percentage of the pollutants does not remain in the North Sea but is "exported" to the Atlantic. The North Sea therefore con tributes to the global input of pollutants to the world's oceans. The major part of the pollutants accumulate in the North Sea and are incorporated in the bottom sediments. Although they are "out of sight", they should not be "out of mind".

I The North Sea System: Physics, Chemistry, Biology.- The Hydrography and Hydrographic Balances of the North Sea.- Suspended Matter and Sediment Transport.- Geobiological Effects on the Mobility of Contaminants in Marine Sediments.- The Nature and Functioning of Salt Marshes.- Estuaries.- Fjords.- The Water-Air Interface.- The Ecosystem.- Fishery Resources.- Natural Events.- II Input and Behavior of Pollutants.- The Scheldt Estuary.- The Rhine/Meuse Estuary.- The Estuaries of the Humber and Thames.- Dredged Materials.- Sewage Sludge Disposal in the North Sea.- Waste Incineration at Sea.- Input from the Atmosphere.- Occurrence and Fate of Organic Micropollutants in the North Sea.- Distribution and Fate of Heavy Metals in the North Sea.- North Sea Nutrients and Eutrophication.- Radioactive Substances.- Mathematical Modelling as a Tool for Assessment of North Sea Pollution.- III Impacts on Selected Areas and by Human Activities.- German Bight.- Impact of Pollution on the Wadden Sea.- The Impact of Anthropogenic Activities on the Coastal Wetlands of the North Sea.- Fjords.- Impact of Sewage Sludge.- Impact of Contaminants Mobilized from Sediment Upon Disposal.- Oil Exploration and Production and Oil Spills.- Fishery Effects.- Ecological Impacts During the Completion of the Eastern Scheldt Project.- IV Biological Effects and Monitoring.- Accumulation by Fish.- Accumulation by Birds.- Accumulation and Body Distributions of Xenobiotics in Marine Mammals.- Effects on Invertebrates.- Effects of Pollutants on Fish.- Ecotoxicology: Biological Effects Measurements on Molluscs and Their Use in Impact Assessment.- Between Test-Tubes and North Sea: Mesocosms.- The Role of Biological Monitoring.- Model-Monitoring Relationships.