MCWG also looks at chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) for the marine environment, passive sampling, and chemical aspects of ocean acidification. A significant part of its effort is linked to ICES advisory process, which includes answering to requests from regional sea conventions and providing technical advice in s upport of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The group has developed numerous guidelines for monitoring and assessment tools in support of harmonized monitoring under OSPAR's Joint Assessment and Monitoring Programme.
More recently the group has been active in the field of application of passive sampling devices in the marine environment, investigation of the potential emissions of contaminants from offshore renewables energies, reviewing contaminant levels in seafood, reviewing sediment quality guidelines applied for dredging and dredge disposal monitoring, blue carbon stock assessment including use of fingerprinting techniques for determining carbon provenance, as well as assisting with threshold development for deep sea mining.
During its early years, MCWG played a key role in improving the quality and comparability of chemical substance measurements in the marine environment through intercalibration exercises and development of monitoring protocols for OSPAR and HELCOM. These intercalibrations were the genesis of the QUASIMEME programme, which now supports global marine environmental monitoring activities.
The group works closely with many other expert groups, such as such as Biological Effects of Contaminants (WGBEC), Marine Litter (WGML), Shipping Impacts in the Marine Environment (WGSHIP), as well as the ICES Data Centre.
