North Atlantic, mainly coastal waters. Submissions of environmental data to the ICES Data Centre can be found on the website at: http://www.ices.dk/datacentre/accessions/index.asp

Concentration of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in biota; Trace metalloid and inorganic selenium concentrations in biota; Particulate metal concentrations in the water column; Concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the water column; Concentration of other organic contaminants in suspended particulate material; Concentration of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in the water column; Concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment samples; Concentration of other organic contaminants in sediment samples; Concentration of suspended particulate material in the water column; Concentration of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in sediment samples; Concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in biota; Metal concentrations in biota; Concentration of other organic contaminants in biota; Concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in suspended particulate material; Inorganic chemical composition of sediment or rocks

Initially begun with data from an ICES study of contaminants of fish and shellfish in 1972, the oldest data now considered valid are from 1978. Through the years the database has been extended to encompass the data needs of the Joint Assessment and Monitoring Programme (JAMP) of the Oslo and Paris Commissions (OSPAR), the Cooperative Monitoring of the Baltic Marine Environment (COMBINE), and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). This established ICES's key role as the environmental data centre for the North East Atlantic. Currently the work of the Data Centre is guided by ICES Working Group needs and Commission Monitoring Programmes. In response to these Commissions, the Data Centre currently manages the following contaminant datasets: a) - contaminants in marine invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals b) - contaminants in sea water c) - contaminants in marine sediments. The Data Centre has added more parameters, especially with regard to the monitoring of biological effects and biological communities. The database is utilised by several ICES working groups who have developed appropriate models for the statistical analysis of the data, particularly for temporal trends in contaminants in fish and shellfish. Data are acquired from national and international monitoring programmes of ICES member countries. All data for OSPAR must satisfy the strictest requirements for quality, and participation in intercalibration exercises is mandatory. ICES recommends that Member Countries urge their national laboratories to submit data according to their commitments to the marine Conventions. The submissions of data are crucial for the ability to make assessments of the status of the marine environment. ICES' new integrated database, EcoSystemData, offers a powerful tool facilitating more holistic assessments that integrate data from different compartments of the ecosystem. The successful use of this tool is highly dependent on a good spatial and temporal coverage of the data.

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