‘Collect once, use often’ is a frequently cited principle in both national and international efforts to promote the collection, archiving and sharing of marine monitoring data. Since the implementation of the Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) evidence collection programme, 67 recommended MCZ sites have been visited and a suite of marine data collected. Here we present how this dataset was utilised outside of the MCZ programme to identify occurrences of non-indigenous species (NIS) around the UK coast. One hundred and thirty-five aquatic species from the Non-native Species Information Portal (NNSIP) register were used to produce a standard list of NIS against which, infauna and epifaunal data records from the MCZ project were compared. A total of 20 NIS were identified across 42 of the 67 sites surveyed. This study demonstrates that with sufficient coordination and management data collected for other purposes can be easily utilised to address additional policy requirements.

In New Caledonia, semi-intensive shrimp farms release untreated effluents into the mangrove. Foraminiferal assemblages were analyzed for assessing the impact of effluent release on the benthic compartment. Comparison was made between samples collected (1) in an effluent receiving mangrove before and after the rearing cycle, and (2) for one-year monitoring an effluent receiving and a control mangrove. The distribution of foraminiferal assemblages was primarily driven by the gradient between Rhizophora stands and salt-flats, related to salinity and tidal elevation, and by seasonal cycles. The potential impact of effluent release was due to the combined effects of normal-saline effluents on surface salinity, and of nutrient input and microbial stimulation on food availability. Foraminiferal assemblages did not indicate a substantial impact of farm effluents and suggest that semi-intensive shrimp farming using mangrove for effluent discharge may appear as a sustainable solution in New Caledonia, when considering only the impact on the mangrove itself.

Coral reefs constitute the most biologically productive and diverse ecosystem, and provide various goods and services including those related to fisheries, marine tourism, coastal protection, and medicine. However, they are sensitive to climate change and rising temperatures. Taiwan is located in the central part of the world's distribution of coral reefs and has about one third of the coral species in the world. This study estimates the welfare losses associated with the potential damage to coral reefs in Taiwan caused by climate change. The contingent valuation method adopted includes a pre-survey, a face-to-face formal survey, and photo illustrations used to obtain reliable data. Average annual personal willingness to pay is found to be around US$35.75 resulting in a total annual willingness to pay of around US$0.43 billion. These high values demonstrate that coral reefs in Taiwan deserve to be well preserved, which would require a dedicated agency and ocean reserves.

Eighteen different perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were investigated in 35 river water samples and 34 sediment samples collected from rivers in the Liaodong Bay basin containing two fluorine industry parks. Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were the predominant PFASs in freshwater, with median concentrations of 26.5ng/L and 1.87ng/L, respectively. However, perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) had the highest maximum concentration (up to 124.1ng/L, approximately two orders of magnitude higher) in water at a site which is the nearest to the industrial source of PFASs. Total PFASs in water at this site were also the highest. In contrast, PFOA and perfluorooctadecanoate (PFOcDA) were the most abundant PFASs in sediment, with median concentrations of 1.19ng/g and 0.35ng/g, respectively. Total PFAS concentrations in sediment from the site near to the industrial park were significantly higher than the other rivers. Mass loading of total PFASs from the rivers flowing into Liaodong Bay was estimated to be 506kg/year.

In the marine environment, underwater noise is one of the most widespread input of man-made energy. Recently, the European Commission has stressed the necessity of establishing threshold levels as a target for the descriptor 11.2.1 “Continuous low frequency sounds” in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). In 2012, a monthly underwater noise monitoring programme was conducted in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy); the collected acoustic samples (frequency range: 10–20,000Hz) were analysed in the 1/3 octave bands. The stations have been further clustered following the 63 and 125Hz bands noise levels. Average SPL levels resulted similar to those previously computed for proximate areas, indicating that the Adriatic Sea sub-region experiences high noise pressure in the marine waters. In its turn this claims for a scientific and technical international cooperation, as requested by the EU programme. No seasonal variation in local noise levels has been found.

Biological and geochemical variables in the water column and sediments were monitored along a transect of a mussel farm located in a transitional environment in Maliakos Gulf, a semi-enclosed gulf in eastern Mediterranean. Analyses of water, sediment and macrofauna samples were used to calculate ecological status indicators in the context of the European Water Framework Directive. The water column ecological status was “Poor” or “Bad” showing little change with distance from the farm, but the ecological status of the benthic communities was found to be “Good,” although there were quantitative changes in macrofaunal indices with distance from the farm.

The present study was carried out on the Porites coral growth bands (1979 to 2014) to measure the metal accumulation for assessing the environmental pollution status. The concentrations of studied metals are compared with similar global studies, which indicate that the metals are probably derived from natural sources. The identical peaks of Fe and Mn are perfectly matched with Cu, Cr and Ni concentrations. However, the metal profile trend is slightly depressed from a regular trend in Zn, Cd and Pb peaks. The metal accumulation affinity of the reef skeleton is ranked in the following order Cr>Cd>Pb>Fe>Mn>Cu>Ni>Zn. The distribution of metal constituents in coral growth bands is primarily controlled by Fe and Mn in the reef skeleton. Other reef associated metals such as Pb and Cd are derived from other sources like coastal developments and anthropogenic sources.

In this study the environmental impacts of two fish farms located over deep water (180–190m) were compared. MC-Farm was located at a site with slightly higher water currents (mean current speed 3–5cms−1) than LC-farm (<2cms−1). Macrofauna composition, bioirrigation and benthic fluxes (CO2 and NH4+) were quantified at different stages of the production cycle, revealing very different impact of the two farms. Macrofauna abundance and bioirrigation were stimulated compared to a non-impacted reference site at MC-farm, while macrofauna diversity was only moderately reduced. In contrast, macrofauna communities and related parameters were severely impoverished at LC-Farm. This study suggests that deep-water fish farms should not be sited in low current areas (<2cms−1), since this will hamper waste dispersal and aggravate environmental impacts. On the other hand, fish farming at slightly more dynamic sites can lead to stimulated benthic macrofauna communities and only moderate environmental impacts.

The relationship between pollution level in estuarine sediment and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of resident smooth toadfish Tetractenos glaber was evaluated. A total of 188 fish from Sydney and Hawkesbury River estuaries (5 locations from each) were analysed for 28 bilateral skull bone characters. Sediment pollution was quantified based on analysis of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) and organochlorine pesticides (DDT, DDD, DDE, chlordane, dieldrin, lindane). Sediment toxicity was characterized using the mean quotient approach (MERMQ) and ranged from low to moderate level for heavy metals and from low to severe for organochlorides. The mean shape and directional asymmetry of fish bones differed among locations, suggesting a response to local environments. FA was positively correlated with organochlorine pesticides across locations, but not with heavy metals. These results suggest that fish FA could be a useful estimator of stress caused by organic toxicity based on the MERMQ approach.

To determine the chemical compositions and source identification of PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 fractions, airborne particulate matter (PM) samples were collected from May, 2011 through April, 2012 at three sites: up and downwind and within a scrap iron and steel smelting industry, Ife–Ibadan highway, south western Nigeria. Samples of PM2.5 (fine) and PM2.5–10 (coarse) were collected on Nuclepore polycarbonate filters using a low volume GENT sampler equipped with a stacked filter unit (SFU). A total of 200 samples were collected (100 of each fraction). The mass concentration of the sampled fine and coarse PM fraction ranged between 14.4–986.5μg/m3 and 11.2–3 250μg/m3, respectively. These values exceed the permissible daily limit (NAAQS) of 35μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 150μg/m3 for PM10. The samples were analyzed for black carbon (BC) using an optical transmissometer and for elemental concentrations using X–Ray Fluorescence (XRF). The size–resolved data sets were analyzed using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) to identify possible sources and estimate the contribution of these sources to the fine and coarse PM mass concentrations. Four source categories, providing stable profiles, were identified for both fine and coarse fractions. The identified sources and their contributions for the fine fraction are coking coal (83%), soil (10%), metallurgical industry (6%), and electronic waste processing (1%). For the coarse fraction, the identified sources are metallurgical production plus electronic waste (53%), suspended input materials (28%), soil (18%), and galvanized steel scrap with cadmium (1%). Conditional probability function (CPF) identified the local sources for both the fine and coarse PM samples. This work presents the first known major use of PMF in Nigeria for source identification in particulate matter (PM) studies.