This report presents recommendations and procedures for monitoring contaminants in the Barents Sea. Monitoring of contaminants will be an part of an overall Norwegian management plan for the Barents Sea. Participants of a workshop, held 22-25 March 2004 at the Polar Environmental Centre in Tromsų, developed a series of recommendations for monitoring of persistent organic pollutants and mercury, radionuclides, and modeling.

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Mercury
Persistence, bioaccumulation, potential for long-range environmental transport, and adverse effects are the key criteria used to establish recommendations and select compound, species, organs etc. This is in accordance with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and the Stockholm Convention. Sampling and analytical procedure are based on JAMP protocols. The most important compounds identified are: 10 AMAP PCBs, HCH (α-, β- and γ-isomers), DDT ,DDE ,DDD (6 isomers), HCB, 7 Chlordanes, incl. metabolites (Oxy-CD, cis-Hept.chloroepoxide), PBDEs (47, 99, 100, 153), 30 AMAP PCBs, Chlorobornanes (26, 50), and PAH-metabolites (OH-pyrene). For pure time trend analysis, the use of biota may be sufficient in order to find increasing or decreasing tendencies/slopes. However, in order to understand the mechanism for why high levels are present in specific species, monitoring of levels in both abiota (air, sea-water, ice, sediment) and lower trophic levels of the food-chain are recommended.

For screening purposes, the following are recommended:
PAH-metabolites (OH-pyrene), PBDE 209, SCCP/MCCP, Cyclic polysiloxanes, Dicofol, OH-PBDE metabolites, PCB-metabolites (OH-PCB, -MeSO3), PF-sulfonates (incl. PFOS), PF-carboxylic acids, PF-sulfoamides, Endosulfan, PCN, Co-planar PCBs, PCDD/F, HBCD, TeBBPA, and Oil PAH (16 comp. + NPD).

Radionuclides
There is a need for the documentation of distributions, levels and trends of radioactive contamination in both the abiotic and biotic components of the Barents Sea. This is coupled to a need for strong emergency preparedness so that the impacts of sudden accidents or events on the radiological state of the Barents Sea can be assessed and reported expeditiously. The relevant importance of individual nuclides is a function of the changing nature of source terms for radioactive contamination. However in general, the priority radionuclides are ^238/239/240Pu, ²⁴¹Am, ²¹⁰Pb/²¹⁰Po, radium isotopes, ²⁴¹Pu, ⁹⁰Sr ,  ⁹⁹Tc, ¹²⁹I, ¹³⁷Cs,⁶⁰ Co. Important species commercially and for local populations, in particular, fish species (e.g. cod / saithe/ haddock / capelin) are the highest priority. In addition species that concentrate radionuclides from their environments provide useful indicators of levels of radioactive contamination. Of these, seaweeds are the most widely used.

With respect to screening, the type of site will determine to a large extent which sample types and radionuclides are relevant. However in most cases gamma spectrometry is the analytical method that most often will be used for screening purposes.


Modeling
Integrating modeling into a monitoring programme will provide the opportunity to identify sources and routes of contaminant transport, fill in the sampling programme geographically and temporally, include a bigger part of the ecosystem than is possible by sampling, form the basis to calculate exposure and/or explain effects, contribute to improving the monitoring programme through finding the optimal positioning for sampling stations and the most adequate species/media, and provide day-to-day views of the current physical and biochemical state of the region. In addition, the routine collection of data within a monitoring programme will greatly assist in the continued evolution of modeling tools for contaminant transport.
 

Sampling Strategy
For the sampling strategy, a plan with 10 stations was presented, taking into consideration the main transport routes in/out of the Barents Sea. The plan includes a combination of fixed and dynamic stations in order to capture important boundary areas including the marginal ice zone, Polar Front, and Central Barents Sea. Sampling of air, ice, water, sediment and biota is necessary to capture important interfaces especially air exchange across the sea surface.


Joint activities
The integration of activities into a single monitoring programme covering both radionuclides and POPs was not recommended by the radioactivity subgroup. However, it would be an advantage to have a closer cooperation between POPs and radioactivity monitoring activities in the Barents Sea. It is recommended that a separate meeting be organized to discuss how such a cooperation may be formulated and conducted.