Understanding marine pollution and the contamination of coastal environments requires knowledge from a variety of scientific fields. Marine Environmental Quality promotes a multidisciplinary approach to investigations, drawing on not only natural sciences, but also applied mathematics and social sciences. The investigations in this book focus on both organic and inorganic pollutants, firstly in a study conducted in the city of La Rochelle, on the North Atlantic French coast, then expanding the areas under examination to regions of English and Portuguese waters and, lastly, to the Mediterranean Sea. The improvement such research can bring to biomarkers, models and experiments enables equal progress in the quality of seawater in ports and protected areas of coastal regions. The eight chapters of Marine Environmental Quality present many aspects of this research, including experiments with floating barriers, water governance in various areas, sampling sites and sentinel species that act as biomarkers in harbors. Also covered are environmental commitments, both international and local, the risk that marine contamination poses to human health, experimental designs for interactions with microplastics and a study biomonitoring the juveniles of sentinel species. Such results will bring many benefits, to human health, to economic inclusion and to regional development.

Table of Contents:
Preface xi Frédéric MUTTIN and Hélène THOMAS Chapter 1. Oil Spill Boom Strategy for Local Authorities Facing Coastal and Harbor Pollutions: A Survey of the European Research Project ISDAMP+ 1 Frédéric MUTTIN and Rose CAMPBELL 1.1. Introduction 1 1.1.1. Challenge 2 1.1.2. Problem 2 1.1.3. Project partners 3 1.2. Coastal hydrodynamic model 4 1.3. Boom structural analysis model 5 1.4. Hydrodynamic and structural models coupling 6 1.5. Full-scale experiments 7 1.5.1. Falmouth 8 1.5.2. Lisbon 10 1.5.3. Rochefort 12 1.5.4. La Rochelle Chef de Baie 13 1.6. Conclusion 16 1.7. Acknowledgments 17 1.8. References 17 Chapter 2. Governance and Public Policies of Coastal Water Quality in the Pertuis Charentais 21 lice MAZEAUD, François BÉNITEZ, Anaïs RIDEL, Arno BRINGER, Christine PLUMEJEAUD, Pascal BRUNELLO, Adélaïde LEREBOURS, Yann RABUTEAU and Hélène THOMAS 2.1. Fragmented management of coastal waters 23 2.1.1. The coastline: in-between integrated water management policies 24 2.1.2. Coastal waters: controlled and regulated according to their uses 27 2.2. The difficulty of publicizing coastal water quality 30 2.2.1. The “controlled publicity” of coastal water quality and the consequences on shellfish production in the Pertuis Charentais 31 2.2.2. The quality assessment of variable-geometry coastal waters 34 2.3. The Marine Protected Area: going towards a more coherent management of the “Sea–Land” interface? 37 2.4. Conclusion 38 2.5. References 39 Chapter 3. Comparative Biomarkers Study in Two Scallop Organs to Establish Guidelines for Evaluating French Atlantic Coastline Water Quality 41 Marine Paomia BREITWIESER, Marine BARBARIN, Valérie HUET, Emmanuel DUBILLOT, Marianne GRABER and Hélène THOMAS 3.1. Introduction 41 3.2. Materials and methods 42 3.2.1. Study sites and sampling collection 42 3.2.2. Biochemical analysis 44 3.2.3. Data treatments 45 3.3. Results 45 3.3.1. Superoxide dismutase 47 3.3.2. Glutathione S-transferase 47 3.3.3. Malonyldialdehyde 47 3.3.4. Laccase 48 3.4. Discussion 48 3.5. Conclusion 50 3.6. Funding and acknowledgments 50 3.7. References 51 Chapter 4. Tracer Study and Mimachlamys varia Bivalve Tools, a Multidisciplinary Guideline to Assess Environmental Quality in the La Rochelle Harbor Over Three Years 55 Marine Paomia BREITWIESER, Benoit SIMON-BOUHET, Jean-Rémy HUGUET, Valérie HUET, Carine CHURLAUD, Marine BARBARIN, Angélique FONTANAUD and Hélène THOMAS 4.1. Introduction 55 4.2. Materials and methods 58 4.2.1. Field collection and tissue sampling 58 4.2.2. Tracer study of hydrodynamic processes in the harbor area 59 4.2.3. Trace elements and biomarkers of effect analyses 60 4.2.4. Biochemical biomarkers of exposure analysis 61 4.2.5. Data analysis 62 4.3. Results 63 4.3.1. Trace elements and biomarkers of effect analyses 63 4.3.2. Biochemical biomarkers of exposure analysis 67 4.3.3. Relationship between biomarkers of exposure (e.g. SOD, GST, laccase, MDA) and effect (e.g. heavy metals) 71 4.4. Discussion 73 4.4.1. Bioaccumulation 73 4.4.2. Health 77 4.4.3. Tracer study in the bay of La Rochelle 79 4.5. Conclusion 83 4.6. Funding and acknowledgments 84 4.7. References 84 Chapter 5. ISDAMP Project Dissemination and Continuation for Local Authorities’ Oil Spill Preparedness 89 Frédéric MUTTIN and Rose CAMPBELL 5.1. Introduction 89 5.2. Project results 90 5.3. Project audiences 93 5.3.1. International institutions 93 5.3.2. National Contact Points 94 5.3.3. Atlantic Arc regional authorities 95 5.3.4. Local authorities in La Rochelle 96 5.3.5. Discussion 98 5.4. Project continuation 98 5.5. Conclusion 101 5.6. Acknowledgments 101 5.7. References 101 Chapter 6. Environmental Quality of Coastal Areas in the Mediterranean Sea and Potential Risks to Human Health 103 Marion PILLET, Michel MARENGO, Sylvie GOBERT, Pierre LEJEUNE, Michèle LEDUC, Lovina FULLGRABE, Stéphane LE FLOCH and Hélène THOMAS 6.1. Introduction 103 6.1.1. Chemical pollution in coastal marine areas 103 6.1.2. Bioindicators in marine coastal water 105 6.1.3. Biomarkers used to monitor pollution 106 6.2. Situation in the Mediterranean Sea 108 6.2.1. Characteristics of the Mediterranean system 108 6.2.2. Contamination at the lower trophic levels 110 6.3. Mussel biomonitoring in the Mediterranean Sea 111 6.3.1. Biomonitoring of mussels 111 6.3.2. Trace element contamination of mussels in the Mediterranean Sea 112 6.3.3. Organic contamination of mussels in the Mediterranean Sea 114 6.3.4. Physiological functions affected by pollution 117 6.4. Potential human risk assessment 118 6.4.1. Seafood, potential risks and benefits for human health 118 6.4.2. Potential risks associated with mussel consumption 119 6.5. Perspectives in North Corsica ports 122 6.5.1. Multibiomarker approach 122 6.5.2. The case of harbor areas 123 6.5.3. The QUAMPO project 123 6.7. Acknowledgments 124 6.8. References 124 Chapter 7. Possible Interactions Between Environmental Microplastics, Copepods (Tigriopus brevicornis) and Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in the Pertuis Charentais Sea 145 Arno BRINGER, Emmanuel DUBILLOT, Grégoire PRUNIER and Hélène THOMAS 7.1. Introduction 146 7.2. Materials and methods 147 7.2.1. Study area 147 7.2.2. Experimental design 148 7.2.3. Sampling and observation methods 150 7.3. Results and discussions on the presence of copepods in seawater and in oysters 150 7.4. General conclusion and perspectives 153 7.5. References 153 Chapter 8. Health Assessment of Juvenile Scallops in the La Rochelle Harbor 157 Marine Paomia BREITWIESER, Marine BARBARIN, Angélique FONTANAUD and Hélène THOMAS 8.1. Introduction 157 8.2. Assessment methods of the health status of marine bivalves 158 8.2.1. Sampling sites and caging transplantation procedure 158 8.2.2. Water physicochemical assessments 159 8.2.3. Trace element assessments 159 8.2.4. Biomarker assessments 159 8.2.5. Statistical analysis 160 8.3. Results and discussion on the health status of juvenile scallops 161 8.3.1. Water physical variables 161 8.3.2. Health biomarker assessments 162 8.3.3. Heavy metals 167 8.3.4. Principal components analysis 171 8.4. References 173 List of Authors 177 Index 181