title: Anatomy of a decision III: Evaluation of national disposal at sea program action level efficacy considering 2 chemical action levels.
abstract: The potential performance (i.e., ability to separate nontoxic from toxic sediments) of a range of international Disposal at Sea (DaS) chemical Action Levels (ALs) was compared using a sediment chemical and toxicological database. The use of chemistry alone (without the use of further lines of evidence) did not perform well at reducing costs and protecting the environment. Although some approaches for interpreting AL1 results are very effective at filtering out the majority of acutely toxic sediments, without subsequent toxicological assessment, a large proportion of nontoxic sediments would be unnecessarily subjected to treatment and containment, and a number of sublethally toxic sediments would be missed. Even the best tiered systems that collect and evaluate information sequentially resulted in the failure to catch at least some sublethally or acutely toxic sediments. None of the AL2s examined were particularly effective in distinguishing between non-, sublethally, or acutely toxic sediments. Thus, this review did not support the use of chemical AL2s to predict the degree to which sediments will be toxic. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:1086-1099.© 2017 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).
authors.affiliation: SEA Environmental Decisions, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sabine E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Apitz
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, Suffolk, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vivian
authors.affiliation: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Marine Protection Programs, Gatineau, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agius
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D054750:Ecotoxicology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D006256:Hazardous Waste / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D006256:Hazardous Waste; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords:  Chemical action levels (AL); Contaminated sediments; Dredged material management; London Protocol; Tiered assessment