NORMAN Database System – Chemical Occurrence Data
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EMBLAS was designed to tackle deficiencies and limitations in availability of accurate reliable and comparable marine data, as well as to build capacities of the countries to perform integrated environmental monitoring and assessment of the Black Sea according to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) for the coastal zones and the needs of the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan (BS SAP). The aim of the project was to determine degree of contamination and the effects of pollution by hazardous substances in the Black Sea, mainly its Eastern (Georgian area) and Western (Ukrainian area) sides. An in-depth contamination survey was carried out based on the profiling of WFD priority substances (2013/39/EC) and the screening of potential Black Sea Specific Pollutants in different environmental compartments (seawater and sediments) and marine organisms (mussels and fish). Several analytical methods and novel techniques were applied for the analysis of the samples. Target, suspect and non-target screening approaches were followed for the detection of priority pollutants and emerging contaminants, while advanced software and sophisticated tools were used for results’ extraction and toxicity prediction. Moreover, the risk of the identified emerging contaminants on the aquatic environment was evaluated following the EU risk assessment quidelines (Directive 93/67/EEC, 1488/94/EC, Directive 98/8/EC). The overall objective of the project was to set up initiatives that will help improve the protection of the Black Sea environment. The project was addressing the overall need for support in protection and restoring the environmental quality and sustainability of the Black Sea. The specific objectives were as follows: i) Improve availability and quality of data on the chemical and biological status of the Black Sea, in line with expected MSFD and Black Sea Strategic Action Plan needs; ii) Improve partner countries' ability to perform marine environmental monitoring along MSFD principles, taking into account the Black Sea Diagnostic Report (http://www.blacksea-commission.org/_publBSDiagnosticReport2010.asp).

• V. Dulio, P.C. von der Ohe, NORMAN Prioritisation Framework for emerging substances. NORMAN Association (2013), ISBN: 978-2-9545254-0-2
• N.A. Alygizakis, et al: NORMAN Digital Sample Freezing Platform: A European virtual platform to exchange liquid chromatography high resolution-mass spectrometry data and screen suspects in “digitally frozen” environmental samples, April 2019, TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 115, DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2019.04.008, License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Projects: Antibiotics and mobile resistance elements in wastewater reuse applications: risks and innovative solutions (ANSWER), Non Target Screening of Emerging Contaminants)

• https://emblasproject.org/
• https://emblasproject.org/publications-and-reports

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