Contamination chimique des eaux côtières méditerranéennes, les projets MYTILOS et MYTIMED

The MYTILOS and MYTIMED project were launched to draw up a preliminary report on coastal chemical contamination on a Western Mediterranean scale (continental coasts of the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Maghreb) and a part of the Eastern basin (Southern Italian and Sicilian coasts, Greece), based on a standard methodology developed on the French Mediterranean coast by Ifremer and Rhone Mediterranean & Corsica water board since 1996. From 2004 to 2007, 174 mussel stations were installed and recovered 3 months later along the Mediterranean shores. The analysis of 40 chemical substances has been carried out on mussel samples. The results show that the most highly impacted areas are urban and industrial centres and the mouth of major rivers. When going from the coast towards open sea a far higher dilution effect is observed for organic compounds than for heavy metals. For metals, levels measured offshore are generally found to be similar to those in natural shellfish populations living along the coast.