Report of the Study Group on Integrated Monitoring of Contaminants and Biological Effects (SGIMC)

The joint ICES/OSPAR SGIMC (Study Group on Integrated Monitoring of Contami-nants and Biological Effects) met for five days in March 2011 at ICES HQ. The meet-ing was co-chaired by Ian M Davies (UK, OSPAR) and Dick Vethaak (NL, ICES). Eleven participants represented eight nations.

SGIMC develops advice and supporting documentation to meet the needs of both organizations for an integrated approach to the monitoring of chemical contaminants and biological effects for the purposes of assessment of environmental quality/status in relation to contaminants. The output also has strong application to the develop-ment of monitoring strategies and assessment criteria for Descriptor 8 of Good Envi-ronmental Status under Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).