Report of the ICES/HELCOM Steering Group on Quality Assurance of Chemical Measurements (STGQAC)

STGQAC met 19–21 March, 2007, at BFAFi (Federal Research Centre for Fisheries), Hamburg, Germany. Minna Pyhälä from the HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki informed about the work regarding updating the HELCOM Combine. The group helped with some corrections of the reorganised Manual. The group had a joint session with MCWG to discuss some technical notes and the arrangements for future cooperation between the groups. It was concluded that STGQAC should stay as a separate group, but the two groups should improve the intersessional activities between the groups.

Both groups were informed of recent updates of the QUASIMEME programme and had the opportunity to address several questions to Steven Crum, as a representative of the QUASIMEME Project Office.

The revised technical note on co-factor determination was commented on in 2005, and the subject was discussed in the groups. The conclusion was that the Chair of the STGQAC should arrange intersessional contacts with experts (e.g. the WGMS sediment group) and the group should revise and improve the document with e.g. recent literature references. A review of nutrient control samples will be performed intersessionally.