Extended imposex monitoring in N Atlantic Spain confirms punctual attainment of European environmental objectives for TBT.

ABSTRACT

Legislation in the European Union (EU) aimed at reaching by 2015 a Good Ecological Status in regard to tributyltin (TBT, the biocide used in traditional antifouling paints). With a view to check such an achievement in N Atlantic Spain, baseline monitoring of gastropod imposex (the recommended assessment tool) was extended up to that date. In Galicia (the Western part of the study area) the use of the rock snail Nucella lapillus since 1996 had shown this environmental objective to be met as soon as 2009, but new surveys reveal no further improvement thereafter. As for the Eastern Cantabrian coast, imposex levels in the mud snail Nassarius reticulatus progressively declined from 2006 to 2015, when records finally complied with expectations. Both data sets are confronted and discussed in relation to the diverse environmental factors that may be determining the distribution of gastropods in these regions.