Shellfish
The purpose of the European Commission (EC) Directive on the quality required of shellfish waters (the Shellfish Waters Directive) is to ensure a suitable environment for shellfish growth. The original Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EC), adopted on 30 October 1979, was repealed by the codified Shellfish Waters Directive (2006/113/EC), adopted on 12 December 2006.
Codification is a routine procedure that consolidates an existing Directive, with any amendments made since its introduction, into a single, more accessible document. The codified Directive maintains all existing measures which provide for the monitoring and assessment of shellfish waters and the setting of the water quality standards they are required to achieve. Any reference to the repealed Directive should be construed as referring to the new one.
NIEA is responsible for the monitoring and assessment of Northern Ireland's classified shellfish waters. The Shellfish Waters Directive is not intended, by itself, to protect the quality of shellfish for consumption.
In the UK this is controlled by EC Regulations. Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004 specifies the health conditions for the production and placing on the market of live bivalve molluscs. In addition, Regulation (EC) No. 854/2004 sets out the official controls of live bivalve molluscs from classified production areas. The classification and monitoring of shellffish harvesting areas is carried out by the Food Standards Agency Northern Ireland (FSA NI), from whom more information can be obtained. The general FSA NI telephone number is 028 9041 7700.
Under the EC Shellfish Waters Directive, Member States are required to designate coastal and brackish waters, which need protection or improvement in order to support shellfish. Shellfish improvement programmes are established to enable the waters to conform to standards for a number of physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters.
In Northern Ireland one initial designation was made in 1983 and a further eight areas were designated in 1999.
Review of Shellfish Waters Designations 2009
Following public consultation a review of shellfish waters has been completed and the Department of Environment announced on 26th June 2009 that it had classified new, and modified existing Shellfish Waters.
These documents are also available on NIEA's "Publications" webpage which can be accessed from here.
Search for these documents in "most recent publications" or under "water quality".
Maps of Northern Ireland's Designated Shellfish Waters
In due course maps showing Northern Ireland's Designated Shellfish Waters will be produced. In the interim however, co-ordinates from which maps could be prepared are shown in the Schedule mentioned above. At this stage, however, maps shown in the consultation document (accessed from the relevant Department of Environment webpage link above) are sufficient.
There are designated shellfish waters in the areas below.
- Lough Foyle
- Larne Lough
- Belfast Lough
- Strangford Lough
- Inner Dundrum Bay
- Killough Harbour
- Carlingford Lough
Parameters of the substances monitored under the Shellfish Waters Directive
As with other Directives, Mandatory and Guideline standards are laid down in this Directive. The waters must be sampled at various frequencies depending on the parameter being monitored, and the frequency may be reduced when the quality of water is known to be high.
For each parameter, the Directive specifies the minimum number of samples to be taken, the standards to be met and the percentage of samples that must meet these standards.
The standards have been met if the following percentage of samples analysed do not exceed the limit values:
- 100% for metals and organohalogen compounds
- 95% for salinity and dissolved oxygen
- 75% for other substances.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is currently revising the standards which must be met.
Parameters Measured
| Parameters measured | Frequency of Sampling |
|---|---|
| pH | Quarterly |
| Temperature | Quarterly |
| Coloration | Quarterly |
| Suspended solids | Quarterly |
| Salinity | Monthly |
| Dissolved Oxygen | Monthly |
| Petroleum hydrocarbons | Quarterly |
| Organohalogenated substances | Half-yearly |
Metals
|
Half-yearly |
| Faecal coliforms | Quarterly |
