title: Review of oil and HNS accidental spills in Europe: identifying major environmental monitoring gaps and drawing priorities.
abstract: The European Atlantic area has been the scene of a number of extensive shipping incidents with immediate and potential long-term impacts to marine ecosystems. The occurrence of accidental spills at sea requires an effective response that must include a well executed monitoring programme to assess the environmental contamination and damage of the affected marine habitats. Despite a number of conventions and protocols developed by international and national authorities that focused on the preparedness and response to oil and HNS spills, much remains to be done, particularly in relation to the effectiveness of the environmental monitoring programmes implemented after oil and HNS spills. Hence, the present study reviews the status of the environmental monitoring programmes established following the major spill incidents over the last years in European waters, aiming at identifying the key monitoring gaps and drawing priorities for an effective environmental monitoring of accidental spills.
authors.affiliation: CIMAR/CIIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Rua dos Bragas 177, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal. tneuparth@ciimar.up.pt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neuparth
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Reis-Henriques
mesh_terms: D055884:Chemical Hazard Release / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D005060:Europe; D059392:Petroleum Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*