Monitoring offshore installations on the Dutch continental shelf

This study, which deals with monitoring offshore installations on the Dutch Continental Shelf, was carried out in 1987 and 1988 at four drilling locations L-4-a, K-12-a, F-18-9 and F-14-6. The surveys were carried out in order to detect short-term or long-term effects of oil-containing drilling muds on the bottom fauna. Chemical sediment analyses, bioaccumulation, active biological monitoring (ABM) are described, as well as the biodegradation capacity for napthalene and hexadecane. Bioaccumulation of contaminants was studied in the test organisms Amphiura filiformis, Echinocardium cordatum and Macoma balthica. The active biological monitoring experiments were carried out with Mytilus edulis (mussel), Cerastoderma edule (common cockle) and Macoma balthica. Boxcosm experiments with undisturbed sediments from the vicinity of drilling location F-18-9 are described.