European Ocean Biodiversity Information System
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page
Long-term monitoring study of beached seabirds shows that chronic oil pollution in the southern North Sea has almost halted
Stienen, E.W.M.; Courtens, W.; Van de walle, M.; Vanermen, N.; Verstraete, H. (2017). Long-term monitoring study of beached seabirds shows that chronic oil pollution in the southern North Sea has almost halted. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 115(1-2): 194-200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.12.019
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363
Peer reviewed article  
Available in  Authors 
    Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Open Marine Archive 300235 [ download pdf ]
Keywords
    Pollution > Water pollution > Marine pollution
    ANE, North Sea [Marine Regions]
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Beached bird surveys; Seabird mortality; Long-term trend;
Authors  Top 
  • Stienen, E.W.M.
  • Courtens, W.
  • Van de walle, M.
  • Vanermen, N.
  • Verstraete, H.
Abstract
    Trends in oil rates of beached seabirds reflect temporal and spatial patterns in chronic oil pollution at sea. We analysed a long-term dataset of systematic beached bird surveys along the Belgian North Sea coast during 1962–2015, where extreme high oil contamination rates and consequently high mortality rates of seabirds during the 1960s used to coincide with intensive ship traffic. In the 1960s, > 90% of all swimming seabirds that washed ashore were contaminated with oil and estimated oil-induced mortality of seabirds was probably several times higher than natural mortality. More than 50 years later oil rates of seabirds have dropped to historically low levels while shipping is still very intense, indicating that chronic oil pollution has significantly declined. The declining trend is discussed in the light of a series of legislative measures that were enacted in the North Sea region to reduce oil pollution.
All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors