The CONTRAST website was one of the first deliverables that was used to showcase the project, describing in simple language the ambitions of CONTRAST. The website provides the latest news and developments within the project. A dissemination, exploitation and communication plan (DECP) was produced to describe the internal communication, stakeholder engagement, clustering activities and general plan for all the other DECP activities within CONTRAST. An educational website ‘A New Formula’ was created to provide educational material and resources for the public, students and teachers on the risks of CECs. A dedicated CONTRAST LinkedIn account has become one of the main channels for the dissemination of CONTRAST news and activity.
Data management plan (DMP) was produced, defining the projects data and outlines the steps to ensure FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The DMP provides guidelines for partners and a summary of anticipated data collection through field monitoring, lab experiments and modelling.
A chemical prioritisation scheme was developed to select the CECs that will be studied in the project. The CECs were filtered based on their persistence and bioaccumulation, toxicity and mobility. Overall, 64 CECs were selected for measurement in field samples analysed in case studies in WP5, 13 CECs were selected for lab experiments to understand mechanisms of toxicity (WP3), impacts on biodiversity (WP4) and modelling chemical fate (WP2).
The OSPAR/HELCOM study group, where several members of CONTRAST were a part of, provided recommendations on sentinel species and biological effects in fish and bivalves for the IAF in WP5. In silico, in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to assess the general toxicity and the mechanisms of toxicity of the selected CECs to marine organisms. This information was also used to recommend the biomarkers that will be measured in fish and bivalves in the different case studies, to form the basis of IAF for the assessment of good environmental status (GES).
Modelling the fate and distribution of selected CECs with different chemical properties in both water and sediment of the Oslofjord. Biogeochemical models were combined to predict CECs partitioning with organic matter, decay due to biodegradation, photolysis, and hydrolysis. This allowed for simulations of spatial and temporal variability of CECs during a period of intensive pollution and restoration.
Establishment of biodiversity methods (i.e. eDNA, metabarcoding, proteomics) in marine water and sediment for measuring biodiversity in lab studies. These new methods are compared to visual id using both standard observations as well as automated imaging tools. Controlled laboratory experiments have been performed to determine the effects of CECs with sediment meiofauna and phyto- zoo-plankton communities, the analysis is on-going. The most promising tools will be applied to field investigations within the European case studies.
CONTRAST is collaborating with TREC (Traversing European coastlines) to determine the potential effect of chemicals (including 64 CECs from the priority list) on sediment biodiversity. Sediment hot spots have also been selected and forensic ecotoxicology will be performed to determine the compounds responsible for the effects.
The CECs and the biomarkers that will make up the IAF in fish and/or bivalves have been selected and will be applied to the first case studies, 16 and 12 biomarkers covering 9 and 6 mechanisms of toxicity will be measured in fish and bivalves, respectively. Proficiency tests between European laboratories were performed for two biomarkers. 13 and 10 labs took part in the 2 proficiency tests. The results showed satisfactory results with close agreement between the participating laboratories. Three method harmonisation workshops have been organised between the consortium partners including: 1) biological effects in fish and sediment biodiversity methods; 2) biological effects in mussels; and 3) chemical analysis. The harmonisation workshops were well attended and helped to further improve cooperation and collaboration.
