CONTAMINANTS IN SEAWATER AROUND ENGLAND AND WALES - RESULTS FROM MONITORING SURVEYS, 1990-1992

Seawater monitoring surveys were conducted between 1990 and 1992 in th e waters around England and Wales. In the North Sea and English Channe l these were undertaken as part of the internationally coordinated Mon itoring Master Plan (MMP) initiated by the North Sea Task Force, on th e west coast similar monitoring was conducted in anticipation of the r ecently established UK National Monitoring Programme (NMP). Measuremen ts were made for total hydrocarbons, hexachlorocyclohexanes, triazine herbicides (atrazine and simazine), organotin compounds and a range of trace metals. The stations established under the MMP (which now also incorporates MMP sites) are situated in estuarine, and intermediate/of fshore areas, and the results are discussed in terms of this distribut ion.